Japanese authorities have formed a task force to study the impact of Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency, Libra, according to reports.
The task force is made up of the Bank of Japan, the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Services Agency, and it began meeting this week. The group is meeting ahead of the upcoming conference of the G7 finance ministers in France July 17-18.
The group is going to investigate how Libra will impact monetary policy, as well as the stability of the financial landscape. The group’s goal is to work on policies that will deal with how Libra is going to affect payments, monetary policy, regulation and taxes.
The task force hopes to attract more officials to the group, as Libra’s implications are far reaching. The G7 taskforce in France was created to address the issue of cryptocurrencies as well.
There have been many voices in opposition of Libra, including Ethereum’s co-founder Mihai Alisie, who recently said that Facebook is trying to trick regulators.
Another loud critic is Mark Cuban, who is a “Shark Tank” investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks. He said he believes that Libra is “a big mistake.”
The executive noted that he’s not so much worried about the impact on markets in the U.S. than at an international level. Cuban told CNBC in an interview, “I think globally and in countries where there isn’t a lot of rule of law, or a lot of government stability, or currency stability, then it could be dangerous.” Cuban continued, “There’s going to be some despot in some African country that gets really upset that they can’t control their currency anymore and that’s where the real problems start occurring.”
Beyond Cuban, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has questioned Libra. He recently said Libra can’t be the same unregulated type of service that Facebook is.
“The Bank of England approaches Libra with an open mind but not an open door,” Carney said. “Unlike social media … the terms of engagement for innovations such as Libra must be adopted in advance of any launch.”
