26 central banks to quiz Facebook over Libra stablecoin today, including US Fed

Officials from 26 central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, are meeting representatives of Libra, the Facebook-led stablecoin project.

Benoît Coeuré, a member of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Executive Board, will chair the meeting in Basel, Switzerland, the Financial Times reported Sunday. Coeuré has warned that “the bar for regulatory approval will be very high” for Libra to operate in the EU.

Libra representatives will specifically meet the Bank of International Settlements’ (BIS) Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure, whose representatives are senior officials of 28 member central banks.

An official told the FT that Libra’s founders have been invited to answer key questions about the proposed stablecoin’s scope and design “with the findings feeding into a report for G7 finance ministers in October."

European lawmakers are reportedly concerned that Libra will become popular in the EU where customers still face difficulties in making overseas payments. Last week, France’s Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, said that the country will halt the development of Libra in Europe because it threatens the “monetary sovereignty” of governments.

“We welcome this engagement and have deliberately designed a long launch runway to have these conversations, educate stakeholders and incorporate their feedback in our design,” the Libra Association was quoted as saying in the FT report.