The EU nations have come out this week with all guns blazing aiming for Facebook’s Libra.
Now a story emerges that European Central Bank was working on a long-term plan to launch a public digital currency that could make projects such as Libra obsolete.
Libra is said to be “a wake-up call” said Benoit Coeure (ECB member) in Helsinki after a meeting of euro zone finance ministers.
Apparently Facebook’s plans revived efforts to widen the uptake of an ECB-backed project for real-time payments in the euro zone, known as TIPS. The project, launched last year, has been met with caution by banks.
“We also need to step up our thinking on a central bank digital currency,” said Coeure.
In an amazing announcement, the ECB official stated the project could allow consumers to use electronic cash, which would be directly deposited at the ECB, without need for bank accounts, financial intermediaries or clearing counterparties.
“We encourage European central banks to accelerate work on issues around possible public digital currency solutions,” according to France’s Le Maire.
So there you have it, there is a reason that they are so worried about Libra and this could be a direct competitor.
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