Jens Weidmann, who is the president of Germany’s central bank and also an official of the European Central Bank in an interview with one of the country’s local newspaper, Handelsblatt on Thursday called on banks in the eurozone to combat Facebook’s Libra project with something cheaper and faster. However, he doesn’t seem to support a digital Euro just yet.
Jens Weidmann Calls For a Cheaper and Faster Payment System to Counter the Proposed Facebook’s Libra Project
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg apparently didn’t have a glorious 2019 in regards to his proposed plan, the Libra project, with other financial and tech giants. However, though they are still having a hard time getting approval for this project, other nations of the world are already thinking, if not already in the completion stage, to counter Facebook’s Libra project.
The major reason for this is to make sure Facebook isn’t given more power than it already has. It currently possesses every detail about our personal and social lives, letting it in on our financial lives will be the last piece of the puzzle. And congressmen fear that if this happens, Facebook’s proposed Libra coin can overthrow the U.S. Dollars.
Nations who have been keeping an eye on the Libra project and how things are developing have been working tirelessly to make sure there’s a better option than Libra in operation if eventually the Libra project gets approved.
As more and more nations try to fight against Libra, Jens Weidmann, Germany’s Central Bank president calls on the smaller bank to develop a system better than Libra which will be better, cheaper, and faster.
Citing his reasons, he says, “I don’t believe in always calling for the state right away.” Furthermore, he says “In a market economy, it is first up to companies to develop a corresponding offer for customer requests.” In order words, since the smaller banks are the closest to the customers, they are in the best place to offer a better solution according to various requests they receive.
The Current State Of Libra
The last tangible thing we heard from Libra’s lead person, Mark Zuckerberg was that Facebook would stand aside from the project if regulators fail to approve since it’s clear that Facebook is the main reason for the obstacles the project has faced so far.
However, it’s also the opinion of Ripple’s boss, Brad Garlinghouse, that the Libra project will not launch until 2023.
