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Facebook is scaling back plans for its cryptocurrency Libra

Social media giant Facebook announced yesterday it is scaling back plans for its cryptocurrency, Libra. Facebook announced its plans after financial regulators showed concern, how the company could make governing money more difficult.

Facebook announced its plans to launch its cryptocurrency Libra back in June 2019. Since then, the social media platform has received constant push backs from the regulators all over the world. Regulators across the globe showed concern over Facebook issuing its own cryptocurrency, which could undermine central banks and make money laundering easier.

Less than 10% of the funding comes from Facebook.

Co-founder of Libra, David Marcus, confirmed on Twitter that Facebook has distanced itself from Libra and revealed that only 10% of the funding for the crypto comes from the social media giant. He also noted some key evolutions regarding Libra, which includes the creation of single currency stablecoins in addition to Libra Coin, which will now be a move smart contract “stitching” together fixed nominal weights of underlying stablecoins. He further added that the other thing that changed considerably since the project was announced is how members of the Libra Association have stepped up in a big way. It’s been so rewarding to see this organization become operational and increase its independence, he noted.

Libra to register with the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

David Marcus, in a series of tweets, highlighted some of the changes the crypto project has undergone since its announcement. He revealed that now they have a comprehensive network-level system around anti-money laundering (AML), Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), and sanctions enforcement. The company will also register with the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as a ‘money services business,’ which would mean it has to report more diligently and enhance its record-keeping systems.

The founding members of Libra Association including, PayPal, Stripe, eBay, Visa, and Mastercard, abandoned the project when regulatory scrutiny got intense, and Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to testify in front of the US congress. However, it is not clear yet when the Libra stablecoin would be launched. But the project was initially scheduled to launch sometime this year.

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