Facebook’s cryptocurrency project has already faced a lot of concerns from lawmakers. Now, the U.S. Treasury warns the social media giant that it must conform with American regulations to trade in the US.
The Libra project is headquartered in Geneva. However, U.S. Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker has warned the people behind the project that it will not be exempt from US laws regulating how cryptocurrencies prevent themselves from being used for money laundering and terrorism funding. At least, that is the case if they want to trade in the US.
“Whether it’s bitcoin, Ethereum, Libra, 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,” Mandelker told reporters after a meeting with the Swiss government officials.
The statement follows months of stories where different authorities and officials have raised concerns about the cryptocurrency.
In September, Yves Mersch, a board member of the European Central Bank warned that Libra would prevent the bank from living up to its mission of regulating the currency market.
In August, regulators in the UK, Australia, the USA, Canada, Burkina Faso, Albania and the EU signed an open letter asking the social media giant to be more transparent about its digital currency and its infrastructure.
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