A proposal was made by the US who lead the Financial Services Committee and was reported by Reuters. The proposal concerned big technology companies and how they could prevent them from operating as financial institutions and issuing digital currencies. This proposal could not fail to affect Facebook.
The fine for anyone violating this rule would be $1 million per day (of violation). Such a sweeping proposal would likely draw opposition from US Republicans, who are interested in innovation and would likely try to muster enough votes to block it.
Still, the draft proposal sends a strong message to big tech companies that are increasingly eyeing the financial services space. The bill, “Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance Act,” defines a big tech company as a company that primarily offers a platform service on the internet, with at least $25 billion in annual revenue.
So Facebook, which could be such a company, already announced in June that it would launch its global digital currency in 2020.
Facebook and 28 other companies, including Mastercard, PayPal and Uber, will form the Libra Association for the new currency. No banks are currently included.
The reactions of the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, were also expected. Last week, in his statements, he criticized Libra and other similar cryptocurrency and asked them if they wish to become banks to follow US regulations.
The statement came after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Facebook's plan to create a digital currency, called Libra, could only move forward if it thoroughly examined issues such as privacy, money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability.
