FSA chair: Cryptocurrencies here to stay, regulation inevitable | News

Asked about Facebook’s announced introduction of the Libra token, Kessler said that the only sensible thing to do is to look at what it is in detail, and then for authorities to react. Innovations in the area of money in principle shouldn’t be rejected: after all, money is a human invention.

In his interview with ERR (link in Estonian), Kessler explained that needs to be understood and regulated is how cryptocurrencies affect the tax system, and how their issuers are to be seen and treated. “Another thing relating to money is the development of its value over time. We deal with this through credit,” Kessler said.

The case of Facebook’s Libra token isn’t so much one of a financial company moving into new technologies, but the opposite, a large international with an enormous customer base and enormous amounts of available information moving into financial products.

Facebook has two major advantages, according to Kessler. One is that its large customer base implies a potentially powerful…