Swiss President Expresses Concerns Over Libra’s Chances of Success in Its Current Form 

It’s still unsure when Facebook’s Libra would or if it would launch, but the skepticism surrounding the asset has been non-stop. The latest in all the negative press surrounding Libra is a statement from Ueli Maurer, the President of Switzerland.

Per a December 27 report from Reuters, Maurer spoke on the chances of Libra getting the green light, and explained that in its current form, those chances are non-existent. The president especially questioned the stablecoin’s asset framework, asserting that Central Banks across the world will not allow an asset that’s backed by so many fiat currencies to operate in their jurisdictions.

Swiss Skepticism is a Huge Deal

While several parties have expressed their concerns about Libra, this seems to be the first time that a party will raise issues with Facebook’s decision to back the asset with a collection of national fiat currencies. Others have voiced concerns over Facebook itself and the fact that the social media giant wants to steal an important government policy function. This new concern is just fuel to the fire.

It’s also worth noting who is putting forth a concern. Switzerland is one of the most Crypto-friendly countries in the world, and it is the country that Facebook has chosen to be the headquarters of the Libra Association. If the president of the country is adding more skepticism to the prospects of Libra launching, then Facebook knows it has a problem. 

Facebook is Moving Along Still

Regardless of all the bad press and skepticism, Facebook has made some progress with Libra as well. Despite problems with regulators and the loss of several partners in the Libra Association, a press release by the stablecoin’s regulatory body last month revealed that it had logged over 51,000 transactions and 30 projects within the previous two months. 

In the release, the Association explained that the network’s development has already seen participation from one integrated development environment, 11 clients, 11 blockchain explorers, 10 wallets, and one application programming interface. 

It also managed to log over 51,000 transactions on the Libra network since it reset the test net on September 17. The Libra testnet has been supported by non-custodial crypto wallet platform ZenGo since August, thus allowing users to transact with the asset, but in a test mode.

The social media giant also recently launched Facebook Pay, a new fiat payment system that allows users to make payments across Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. While many believed that the platform was a way of offsetting the departure of several Libra Association members (especially payment processors such as Stripe, PayPal, VISA, and MasterCard), the company made it clear that the service will be kept separate from the Libra network.