Facebook and JP Morgan face global regulators to discuss cryptocurrencies

Representatives from Facebook and JP Morgan met with global central bank officials on Monday to discuss the development of the new Facebook cryptocurrency Libra and JPM coins.

The meeting, which was chaired by the European Central Bank’s Benoit Coeure and hosted by the Bank for International Settlements was called by a working group created by the Group of Seven countries to review stablecoins.

According to CNBC, the consortium overseeing Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency as well as representatives from JP Morgan laid out their plans for so-called stablecoins.

“As a new technology, stablecoins are largely untested, especially on the scale required to run a global payment system,” Coeure said. “They give rise to a number of serious risks related to public policy priorities. The bar for regulatory approval will be high.”

David Marcus, the executive leading Facebook’s cryptocurrency initiative said Libra wouldn’t “threaten the sovereignty of nations when it comes to money.”

“We will continue to engage with central banks, regulators, and lawmakers to ensure we address their concerns through Libra’s design and operations,” Marcus said in a tweet.

France's finance minister Bruno Le Maire said last week that Libra should be barred in Europe because it threatens "the monetary sovereignty of countries."