Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Plan Still Faces Sovereignty, Regulatory Hurdles

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After facing nearly unanimous international backlash, last week Facebook Inc. unveiled new plans for its cryptocurrency Libra, including backing a coin with multiple currencies. Despite the changes, Facebook hasn’t made it clear what Libra is and how it should be regulated, and lawyers said the company will likely face stiff apprehension from regulators.

The Libra Association, the group responsible for the governance and development of the Libra network that includes Facebook’s Calibra, Lyft, CoinBase, Spotify and others as members, released an updated white paper announcing the changes. 

Most notably, Libra will not be a separate digital currency, as originally announced in June 2019. Instead, the Libra Association plans to release a series of stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies backed by currencies or commodities, directly tied to a specific government-backed currency….