Coinbase CEO: US Should Reconsider Its Stance On Libra

The ambitious cryptocurrency project by Facebook named Libra is apparently seeing some of its first backers stepping out. This triggered a lot of reactions in the cryptonews lately – and it seems like one of those reactions comes from the head of Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world. The Coinbase CEO recently said that he thinks US should reconsider its negative stance towards Libra as the project partners jump ship.

What we saw in the latest Libra coin news is one of the founding partners at Calibra becoming the first company to officially exit Facebook’s crypto project. The payments giant announced that it would ‘forgo further participation’ in the Libra Association – the 28 member consortium which will control the digital currency.

However, the Coinbase CEO believes that Libra should be received by more sets of open hands. For those of you not following the news, Facebook wanted to form the conglomerate in order to diffuse accusations that it would grow too powerful if it controlled the Libra currency alone.

After weeks of regulatory pressure, the consortium members have been reluctant to further endorse the project, reports showed. The recent departure by PayPal could be the catalyst for others to follow the steps of the payments giant leaving Zuckerberg on his own. It is clear that Libra is facing protest from Europe as well as the US.

The Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, is of the opinion that United States should reverse its harsh stance on cryptocurrency – all in order to avoid being left behind. He made reference to China’s plans to launch a crypto yuan and said that Libra was only one of the many digital currencies. Here is his statement featured in the Libra news:

“Now that China is looking into creating a stablecoin, I wonder if the U.S. will reconsider it’s ridiculous response to Libra.”

Now that China is looking into creating a stablecoin, I wonder if the U.S. will reconsider it's ridiculous response to Libra.

There are many cryptocurrencies, and Libra is just one of them. But the way the U.S. government reacted it's like they almost want to be left behind.

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) October 4, 2019

The reaction from US regulators may now be one of the things to watch out for. It may have been justified when Facebook is concerned, but it appears to have the same abhorrence for any cryptocurrency which is not owned by the central bank.

“Innovation often looks counter-intuitive and disruptive. Government is prone to being co-opted by special interests/incumbents that will play on fears and try to block innovation here,” the Coinbase CEO concluded.