Facebook warned investors that his long-awaited and widely contested cryptocurrency project, Poundmay never budge.
Libra's debut in May 2019 ended nearly a year of speculation that Facebook was quietly building cryptocurrency when the social media giant introduced a blockchain of allowed payments for its 2,4 billion users backed by corporate heavyweights such as PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and Uber.
But, as CNBC reported on Monday, the social media giant acknowledged in its latest quarterly report that Libra may be “unavailable in a timely manner or not at all” – which would put a number of variables in place that could delay or completely stop the planned 2020 launch.
Ambitious plans of Libra, but so far there is no green light
Arriving with much fanfare, Libra was almost immediately surrounded by US regulators, citing concerns that cryptocurrency could compromise data confidentiality, monetary policy and security.
Chairman Maxine Waters made a request to suspend the project a few hours after its announcement. Since then, Facebook has long struggled with US lawmakers for its plan when Libra head David Marcus faced many fears from regulators in early July during a two-hour congressional hearing. However, no matter how significant the heat that Libra faces, Facebook does not see regulatory issues as the only obstacle to launch.
The company also referred to “market acceptance” as the main problem when it described its progress in the risk factors section of its quarterly report.
“In addition, the adoption of such a currency in the market is subject to considerable uncertainty. Thus, there can be no guarantee that Libra or our associated products and services will be provided in a timely manner or available at all. We have no significant previous experience with digital currency or blockchain technologies, which may adversely affect our ability to successfully develop and sell these products and services. ”
Indeed, Facebook problems can be justified. On the one hand, Libra did not seem to have won the hearts of the American market: a recent survey showed that only 5 percent of respondents in the United States expressed "at least some level" of interest in Libra, and 35 percent of respondents in another survey said they trust the project less than bitcoin.
However, Facebook is ready to work with regulators.
Facebook could not calculate the full degree of negative reaction that Libra would face from US regulators, and, nevertheless, the company claims that it is ready to work with legislators to ensure the implementation of cryptocurrency.
Speaking on Monday, an unnamed representative of Facebook said that the company expects a “long path” on which Libra will be released, and that the coin was announced as early as possible in order to withstand the long endorsement stage.
“Interacting with regulators, politicians, and experts is crucial to the success of Libra. That was the only reason why Facebook, along with other members of the Libra Association, early shared our plans. ”