Although Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is yet-to-be-released, it has garnered the interest of countries and the world at large. cnLedger, a Chinese twitter-based cryptocurrency news source also hinted in a tweet on July 18, 2019, that China is paying apt attention to Libra. Also, the virtual asset has a high chance of competing with Alipay and WeChat Pay.
China’s Interest in Libra Cryptocurrency
Per the tweet, cnLedger acknowledged that China is paying close attention to Libra. It added that the crypto asset will rival the likes of Alipay, a Chinese digital payments provider, and WeChat Pay, a payment service developed by tech giant Tencent. These two are platforms that have over 1 billion users each, which are still a distance away from Facebook’s 2.5 billion users.
cnLedger also revealed that currently, “Libra” is the second most searched term on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. So far, the term has gotten over 1.6 million searches which depict how viral the virtual asset has gone in the East Asian country even before its launch.
Odd Performance Given the Crypto Activity Level in China
A user who commented on cnLedger’s tweet opined that the level of interest shown in Libra is quite odd. Their statement was backed by the fact that Libra may not be allowed to operate in China. They also said: “Alipay/WeChatPay user account are *by design* almost completely nonexistent outside of China.”
When consideration is given to the user’s first comment, one may feel the same since China had already banned the trade of cryptocurrencies in 2018. There’s also the potential for crypto mining to be banned in China after the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) classified it in a draft list of industrial activities to be eliminated.
PBoC Says China Needs to Take Precautions Against Trend Set by Libra
On the other hand, cnLedger on July 9, 2019, publicized Xiaochuan Zhou, former governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) comment about Libra. According to the platform, Zhou said China needs to take precautions against the trend that is being set by Facebook’s Libra.
PBoC’s former governor also said Libra has two major contributions which are to eliminate speculations evident in other crypto-assets and enable cross-border payments in developing countries. However, Libra still faces challenges such as anti-money-laundering compliance and fund custody.
Nonetheless, Facebook’s intention to launch a global currency is believed to have led PBoC to up its game in researching to develop its own cryptocurrency to rival Libra. Wang Xin, the director of PBoC also hinted that Libra could potentially pose a risk to global finance and international monetary systems.
