Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the company will spend “however long it takes” to get the regulators and others on board before Libra is officially launched. In an interaction during a quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, Zuckerberg mentioned that,” The goal is to empower billions of people around the world, who use services like WhatsApp but might be excluded from banking services, with access to a safe, stable, and well-regulated cryptocurrency.”
Zuckerberg added that Facebook launched a whitepaper to address the various questions associated with Libra openly and is “committed to working with policymakers” to get the concept of Libra right for everyone. He stated that being a heavily regulated area, the concept of Libra is bound to generate a lot of questions.
Initially Libra was supposed to be launched in the first quarter of 2020, but due to the various questions raised from the policymakers, that date is likely to be shifted back.
In addition, he also addressed the privacy concerns that have been a long raised issue with Facebook. Zuckerberg said,’ “Privacy has always been important to the services we provide, and now it’s even more central to our future vision for social networking. It’s critical that we get this right, and we’re going to build it into all our systems.”
The comments made by Zuckerberg on Libra are in line with those made by David Marcus, Facebook’s blockchain lead. Marcus testified before Congress last week, faced some tough questions and mentioned that Libra will not be launched unless all the queries have been satisfactorily answered. He also responded the he will be ready to accept all his salary in Libra.
A recent survey by CivicScience conducted on 1,799 American adults, revealed that only 2 percent of Americans trust Facebook’s Libra more the other established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The survey also revealed that 86 percent of Americans are not interested in Facebook’s Libra at this stage. In a similar survey conducted by Viber, in United States and United Kingdom, more that 49 percent participants revealed that they do not trust Facebook’s digital currency.
Zuckerberg said that Facebook is ready to have an “open dialogue” regarding Libra and “work through” various concerns that are being raised about the project. This is a change in the approach of company through the recent years as previously it might have just released a product on its own. He concluded that,” We are trying to provide a safe and stable and well-regulated product, so that’s always been the strategy and we’ll continue to engage here.”
