Many European countries have expressed concern following Facebook's recent unveiling of its upcoming cryptocurrency, Libra. In order to get ahead of the potential disruption it may cause, France is creating a G7 task force to study how central banks are going to govern Libra, Reuters reports.
France’s central bank governor, Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Friday that the task force will be led by European Central bank board member, Benoit Coeure, with a focus on how to ensure the cryptocurrency won’t be used for money laundering and other concerns.
The move isn’t entirely unexpected given France’s reaction to Libra. On Tuesday, Bruno Le Maire, France’s finance minister, expressed concerns that Libra might grow to replace fiat currencies and called on G7 central bank governors to prepare a report on Libra for their July meeting.
While Le Maire explicitly stated that Libra should never be allowed to become a sovereign currency, saying at the time that “it can’t and must not happen,” Villeroy has today said that France must be “open to innovation” but remain firm on its regulation.
However, Villeroy still has some reservations about Facebook’s cryptocurrency, saying the concept of “stable” still needs to be clearly defined. Specifically, what instruments the currency will be stable against and how fixed their exchange rates are.