The entire Libra cryptocurrency situation continues to heat up as both Germany and France have come forward to block Libra from ever running within their borders. If you have been living under the metaphorical crypto rock lately, you may have missed the fact that Facebook is planning on releasing its own cryptocurrency which will be known as Libra. They plan on releasing a stablecoin over the next few months that can be utilized by their billions of users!

However, as you dig further into this topic, you will find that there is a whole lot of backlash against Facebook and Libra itself. Cryptocurrency evangelists hate Libra as it is designed to be a stablecoin that is pegged to the US Dollar and is not “REALLY” a cryptocurrency by any means. It is not decentralized, which is one of the cornerstones within the crypto world, and is also run by a private entity - Facebook. All of these reasons take away from the decentralized aspect of what cryptocurrency is meant to offer.

France & Germany Move To Ban Libra

Last week, both the governments for France and Germany had announced that Libra will be blocked in their respective countries. This is a HUGE move and it could potentially be the falling domino that may lead to other large nations to block the cryptocurrency.

In a joint statement by both governments, they stated that;

“no private entity can claim monetary power, which is inherent to the sovereignty of nations”.

Governments are worried that if Libra does become successful and is used by the 2.1 billion users that Facebook has, this may have an impact on the sovereignty of the country. If users choose Libra over traditional currency this will have a wider impact on the economy as a whole. Furthermore, this will also give Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, ultimate power as he will be controlling the monetary system. Facebook is already bigger than many governments and countries within the world and governments fear that if it is allowed to continue to grow, it may become too powerful.

Is This Good For Bitcoin and Crypto?

The terms used in the statement are very telling on why Libra may be one of the best things to happen to cryptocurrency. The governments used the term “private entity” whilst alluding to claiming monetary power, this is interesting because it shows the power that REAL cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have. As Libra is created by Facebook, it is in the hands of a private entity that can be held responsible for any actions on behalf of Libra. This allows governments to move and place blocks on the cryptocurrency - such as which have seen last week. On the other hand, Bitcoin is not a “private entity”. There is nobody running Bitcoin. There is no CEO and no company for a government to make the move to ban Bitcoin. It is truly UNSTOPPABLE. No matter how hard a government might try to ban Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency continues to grow and reach more people.

This is perhaps the best thing to ever to happen to cryptocurrency as it shows that the decentralized nature of the networks we have created can not be stopped. Libra is NOT a decentralized network and therefore is feeling the resistance towards itself, even before launching!





