US Is Considering Law Banning Big Tech from Issuing Currency

According to a copy of the draft legislation obtained by Reuters, a proposal is being considered in the House Financial Services Committee which would ban big tech from issuing its own digital currency. 

A proposal which has a majority in the House Financial Services Committee could prevent Facebook from issuing its Libra cryptocurrency. The bill proposes that the company pay $1M in fines per day if the proposal passes.

However, the proposal would struggle to be passed in the lower chamber. Republicans have been more hesitant than Democrats to condemn the Libra and the cryptocurrency, as of now, is slated for release sometime in 2020. Overall, the proposal has an uphill battle to be implemented.

Still, the draft legislation is a message to big tech firms looking to move into financial services and even issue their own cryptocurrencies. Called “Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act,” the proposal would prevent a large technology firm making at least $25B from creating its own currency or digital asset.

“A large platform utility may not establish, maintain, or operate a digital asset that is intended to be widely used as medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value, or any other similar function, as defined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System…”

Overall, the proposal likely won’t hurt the security token industry. However, Facebook’s Libra could be stalled for some time until the legal situation is sorted out, if at all.

Do you believe Facebook’s Libra will end up releasing in 2020? Let us know your thoughts below. 

Image courtesy of CoinDesk.