LIBRA WOES

Facebook revealed lofty plans to establish a cryptocurrency called Libra in June, but the project quickly ran into trouble with skeptical regulators around the world.

Global regulators will question Facebook on Monday about its Libra cryptocurrency, amid concerns from European Union governments over the threat the digital currency poses to financial stability, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Officials from 26 central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, will meet with representatives of Libra in Basel on Monday, the FT said, citing officials.

Opposition deepened on Friday, when both France and Germany pledged to block Libra from operating in Europe and backed the development of a public cryptocurrency instead.

Facebook’s goal is for Libra to be run by an association of other corporate investors and non-profit members, with an expected launch in the first half of 2020.

Libra will be a digital currency backed by a reserve of real-world assets, including bank deposits and shortterm government securities, and held by a network of custodians. The structure is intended to foster trust and stabilize the price.

Libra transactions will be powered and recorded by a blockchain, which is a shared ledger of transactions maintained by a network of computers.

Individuals and merchants will be able to use Calibra to store, send and receive Libras.

It will be available as a standalone app on smartphones, as well as a button within Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp products.