Facebook’s cryptocurrency, Libra, is awaiting approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. It could be released next January pegged to the US dollar, the Financial Times reported.
Social network Facebook may present its Libra cryptocurrency in January next year in a limited format, the American newspaper Financial Times writes on November 27, citing three sources familiar with the company’s plans.
The Libra Association in April of this year planned to release digital versions of several currencies, as well as a “digital combination” of all coins. According to the Financial Times, Facebook will only be able to introduce one stablecoin pegged to the US dollar in January.
Issue pegged to other currencies is possible in the future. The digital asset is now awaiting approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the newspaper said.
Critics of the new currency said that the move to single-currency coins would hit users as they would have to convert the currency at additional costs.
Facebook in April scrapped plans to develop a single digital currency as part of the Libra project. Then the company decided to issue several stablecoins, the rate of which can be pegged to the national currencies of different countries, for example, the US dollar, euro, British pound and Singapore dollar, reported the financial website Coindesk.
“Each stablecoin will be backed by a reserve of high quality assets and short-term government securities, so that their value will be preserved. Such a model will help interact with central banks and government agencies,” said Libra vice chairman Dante Disparte.