Last week was a rough one for Facebook’s fledgling Libra project, while at the same time showing the growing interest of government’s in sovereign digital currencies.
The week kicked off with reports that a number of members of the Libra Association were getting cold feet amidst increasing regulatory scrutiny. Project lead David Marcus took to Twitter to respond to the claims, but by Friday, PayPal had officially withdrawn. Mark Zuckerberg also faced mounting pressure to appear personally before U.S. lawmaker’s who remain highly skeptical of Libra.
Still, the idea of a digital currency or stablecoin seems to have taken hold. Two Congressmen wrote an open letter to Fed chair Jerome Powell recommending that the Fed look into creating a US digital dollar, suggesting that it was too important to leave to private companies.
Max Boonen is founder and CEO of B2C2, one of the largest cryptocurrency liquidity providers and the leader in electronic OTC trading. The firm is trusted by retail brokerages, exchanges, banks and fund managers to provide 24/7 liquidity. Previously, Max was trader at Goldman Sachs in the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities division in London.
Bea O'Carroll is the COO of Reciprocity Trading - a cryptocurrency liquidity provider. Prior to this, she worked on Wall Street for over 15 years before jumping into bitcoin in 2015. Bea holds a BA from St. John's University and is an active volunteer with Hour Children, an organization based in Queens that helps incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and their children successfully rejoin the community.
David Weisberger, CEO and Co-Founder of CoinRoutes, has over 30 years of experience in market structure, quantitative finance, and trading automation. He started his career at Morgan Stanley where he built their first program and electronic trading systems and subsequently started the non-dollar program trading desk for Salomon Brothers.
Libra Skeptics? US Digital Dollar? Learn More at CoinDesk Invest: NYC