Question 22101 — means of payment

Summary

Ms. Constance Le Grip alerts the Minister of Economy and Finance to the repercussions of the new virtual currency, called Libra, the creation of which the company Facebook announced in a white paper published on June 18, 2019. The Libra white paper announces the creation of this new Facebook cryptocurrency, based on blockchain technology, for the first half of 2020. With Libra, Facebook intends to create a currency and a global financial infrastructure, the governance and management of which will be entrusted to a consortium composed, in addition to the social network, of other companies present in particular in financial services. Indeed, Facebook plans to offer this new digital service to users through a virtual wallet, called Calibra, which will be directly integrated into Messenger and WhatsApp messaging services. These are therefore more than two billion users who will ultimately benefit from this new service. In addition, Facebook plans to install machines similar to ATMs, to exchange currencies for tokens of its cryptocurrency. This new initiative by Facebook, which already defends a quasi-monopoly position in the digital sector, involves significant risks and constitutes a challenge for States, the control of currency constituting one of the pillars of national sovereignty. In addition to the question of the increased power of Facebook, which potentially calls into question the regulation and democratic control of its operations, new crypto-assets and more generally shadow banking operations raise the question of the measures planned to fight against cybercrime, tax evasion, money laundering and financing of terrorism. Added to this is the risk of significant volatility in cryptocurrencies and impacts on financial markets, as well as data protection risks. Indeed, the prospect of a private company controlling monetary flows, as well as private data from social networks, leaving them with a majority place on the market, can only be worrying. During the question session at Government on Tuesday June 18, 2019 in the National Assembly, the Minister declared that this new currency “could not become a sovereign currency” which “could enter into competition with the currencies of States”. Also, he announced that he had asked the G7 governors to submit a report, which must be made public in October 2019, relating to the guarantees with which this digital currency should be surrounded before authorizing its circulation. Furthermore, as part of recent reforms, notably the “PACTE law”, the regulatory framework for initial token offerings in France has been modified and the control instruments available to the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) have been strengthened. However, given the uncertainties that persist, including in terms of consumer protection with regard to the absence of liquidity guarantees from of CALIBRA, she wishes to know what is the timetable for the implementing decrees of the articles relating to these new techniques contained in the "PACTE law", taking into account the very tight timetable for the introduction of Libra, and whether the measures governing this new cryptocurrency will be sufficiently strict to prevent, as the minister declared, that Libra does not become "a sovereign currency" in competition with the euro in the transactions of the general public. In addition, it wishes to know what concrete guarantees the Government can provide in view of the numerous risks that Libra will entail, in particular with regard to the ex post control of the commitments which will be made by Facebook, and more generally by the issuers of tokens, at the time of the issuance of a visa by the AMF and the action taken by the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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