French finance minister Bruno Le Maire at the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Fukuoka, Japan, June 9 2019. Picture: BLOOMBERG/TOSHIFUMI KITAMURAFrance’s finance minister said on Tuesday that strong guarantees are needed over the use of crypto-currencies after Facebook announced it was leaping into the market with its own digital money.
“It cannot and must not become a sovereign currency, with all of attributes of a currency” such as the capacity to issue sovereign debt and serve as a reserve currency, he said. “The aspect of sovereignty must stay in the hands of states and not private companies which respond to private interests.”
On Tuesday, Facebook and some two dozen partners released a prototype of a crypto-currency called libra, whose roll-out as a global digital money is expected next year.