Good news for Facebook’s crypto project for once. Libra got one of its first notable political pats on the back on Thursday from the Republican Senator from South Dakota Mike Rounds. This was first divulged to the public in a tweet by the popular digital assets custodian Anchorage.
Anchorage, which has been – and still is – a strong supporter of the Libra cryptocurrency announced that the Republican senator wrote them an open supportive letter, commending the motive behind Facebook’s Libra and bashing the “hostility” of his colleagues.
Senator Rounds, who was obviously perturbed by the political drama surrounding the launch of Facebook’s digital coin, expressed his displeasure in his colleagues’ stand and commended Facebook’s effort. He stated emphatically that issues like this would – without a doubt – “put a chill on innovation in the long run.”
Acknowledging the impact Libra would have upon its launch, Senator Rounds described the virtual coin as just what US tech companies need to be on par with their Chinese counterpart. Proving his point even more, Senator Rounds asserted that over 80% of Chinese consumers used digital payment over the last year; this is as opposed to about 10% of U.S consumers. Libra is unarguably a good tool to cover the laps.
After expressing his profound disappointment in the negative feedback from his colleagues, Senator Rounds emphasized the essence of regulators in a revolutionary project such as that of Libra, and added his support for expanding the U.S. anti-money laundering laws to incubate emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies.
Furthermore, Anchorage added that it “is grateful to Senator Rounds and the state of South Dakota for their support of entrepreneurship and innovation. Along with the Libra Association’s other Founding Members, Anchorage welcomes regulatory feedback and remains committed to working closely with policymakers, at home and abroad. We respect the critical role that regulators will play in Libra’s launch. We hope that Libra’s ambitious mission will inspire them as much as it has inspired us.”
We sure hope Libra inspires regulators as Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify about the social media company’s cryptocurrency before congress on October 23rd.
Good Crypto News at Last?
Is it safe to say trying to change the game amid multiple harangues and critiques was a bad move on Zuckerberg’s part? Well, critics will agree as the road does not seem to be getting any easier for Facebook’s global coin, Libra.
The crypto coin might have been scheduled for launch for an earlier date but regulators are hindering its roll out, prompting Facebook to slam the brakes until they are done scrutinizing the digital coin.
Left to the mercy of regulators, the drama seems to be an unending one, causing some of Libra’s partners to back out of the deal. News has it that more than half of the early backers of Libra have given up the course. The list includes multi-billion dollar payment companies such as MasterCard, PayPal, and Visa.
