Digital Currency/Stablecoin/Tokenization Series: Does US-Congress Regulate Libra As Securities?

Facebook’s crypto-project initiative ‘Libra’ has been confronting various hindrances before an actual take-off, talk of the town across the globe as some G7 finance ministers and the central bank governors showed some sort of scepticism on this project but reinstating the project is the most buzzing topic even within the U.S. region. The recent trend is that, in the house of representatives for Texas's 29th congressional district, Sylvia Garcia, announced a draft bill to the House Financial Services Committee on Oct. 18. The draft bill, called the ‘‘Stablecoins are Securities Act of 2019,” seeks to regulate stablecoins under the Securities Act of 1933.

This entails “amending statutory definitions of the term security” to include the term “managed stablecoins.”

The proposed bill appears to be directed at Facebook’s Libra stablecoin, which is intended to unveil somewhere in 2020. While the lingering discussions by the legislatures across the globe pertaining to stablecoins like Libra are taking place, which was perceived to be threat to the global financial system and the sovereignty.

At some jurisdictions, Libra is perceived to be risky. The French finance minister Bruno Le Maire recently attacked Facebook’s Libra and said that the country will block the development of the digital currency in Europe.

Foreseeing that the Libra could be potential risk and threat for the country’s sovereignty, the precautious actions were taken as the ministry is concerned about Libra’s impact on the financial stability, as per Reuters report.

Whereas a senior U.S. Treasury executive has come up with some guidelines as to how the Libra system has to abide by the regulatory compliance and the highest standards for ensuring safeguard from the money laundering and terrorism financing. 

The Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Sigal Mandelker, stated the Swiss capital reporters,

“Whether it’s bitcoin, Libra or any other cryptocurrency, our message is the same to all of these companies: anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism has to be built into your design from the get-go.”