https://wccftech.com/french-strike-blow-to-facebooks-libra/

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire while speaking at the OECD conference being held in Paris, France put forth the argument that Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) cryptocurrency Libra would be a threat to the sovereignty of nations around the world.  “In these conditions, we cannot authorize the development of Libra on European soil,” Le Maire said. This comes as little surprise since France has been a leader in the European Union at regulating big tech firms and Le Maire has been a vocal opponent of Facebook’s Libra project since the June announcement. Most recently France issued a 3% digital tax against big tech companies operating in France after negotiations with the US brought the total amount down from an initial 9.5%. The cryptocurrency Libra is a joint effort between Facebook and a variety of other companies and was recently seeking approval from the Swiss financial regulator FINMA, as previously reported here. 

This could slow the adoption across the European continent as regulators work to establish ground rules for the use of these types of currencies.  Historically it was the purview of the nation-state to issue currency for the use of citizens. While this system is not perfect and is subject to abuse there are fears and concerns that a transnational private entity may be even more susceptible to currency manipulation, money laundering, and terrorist financing when commenting about Facebook’s latest effort. According to Reuters Le Maire “…said he had been in touch with both the incoming and outgoing heads of the European Central Bank about setting up a “public digital currency” under the aegis of the international financial institutions.”