Libra: Could Facebook’s new currency be stopped in its tracks?

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg wants to launch a global currency and change the world of finance for billions of people. But many – including powerful politicians, bank chiefs and regulators – don’t like the idea one bit. Why?

Libra, Facebook’s proposed new digital currency, is not receiving a balanced response.

“I don’t think you should launch Libra at all,” said US congresswoman Carolyn Maloney at a hearing in Washington in July. US President Donald Trump, leaders of the G7 nations, and the head of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, have all expressed concerns about Libra, too.

Now the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has joined the chorus of sceptics.

• UK privacy chief joins warning over Facebook’s Libra

Some bystanders assume that because Facebook has used terms like “blockchain” and “decentralised” in its statements about Libra, that it is a…