US Fed to look 'carefully' at Facebook virtual coin Libra
Powell became the latest official to voice concern over the global virtual currency.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday the US central bank will be closely scrutinizing Facebook’s newly announced cryptocurrency Libra with an eye toward potentially regulating the virtual coin.
Powell became the latest official to voice concern over the global virtual currency unveiled last week by Facebook and an array of partners which aims to lower transaction costs and bring more services to people without access to the banking system.
"We’re looking at it very carefully," Powell said at an event sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. "Given the possible scale of it, I think that our expectations from a consumer protection standpoint, from a regulatory standpoint, are going to be very, very high."
