Germany joined France in the forefront to resist the launch of Facebook’s Libra in Europe as on Wednesday 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 on the economies from the stablecoins, especially Facebook’s Libra, and Germany 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 also revealed the country’s plans to 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.
After the harsh comments, Libra’s head David Marcus 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 can of the project and project of such scale need green lights from global regulators as well.
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