Germany joined France in the forefront of the resistance against the launch of Facebook’s Libra in Europe on Wednesday when it passed a comprehensive Blockchain strategy to push back the establishment of any parallel currency.
Reported by Reuters, the strategy was passed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet to boost the digital transformation of its economy, but at the same time also to mitigate the risks of digital currencies.
“We want to be at the forefront and further strengthen Germany as a leading technology location,” Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said.
“At the same time, we must protect consumers and state sovereignty...a core element of state sovereignty is the issuing of a currency, we will not leave this task to private companies.”
The strategy also specified the threats of stablecoins on the economy, especially Facebook’s Libra. Germany said it wants to act as a liaison between European and international regulators to prevent such threats.
A hostile environment in Europe against Libra
Last week, French Finance Minister revealed his country’s plans to block the development of Libra in Europe, citing the threats of the digital currency to the existing “monetary sovereignty.”
“All these concerns about Libra are serious. I, therefore, want to say with plenty of clarity: in these conditions, we cannot authorize the development of Libra on European soil,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.
Following the harsh comments, Libra’s head David Marcus came out in defense of the proposed digital currency and clarified that Libra is not a threat to the monetary sovereignty of any nation.
The digital currency project of the social media company is also seeking a payment system license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). However, the Swiss regulator clarified that it could only check anti-money laundering measures of the project and project of such scale need green lights from global regulators as well.
