Facebook Started Discussions with CFTC Over Its GlobalCoin Initiative

According to the recently revealed information, Facebook has initiated talks with the U.S. Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on the issues of its already hotly anticipated crypto stablecoin initiative.

As CFTC chairman Christopher Giancarlo noted, the conversations held were at their very early stages. And currently, the most important thing is to understand whether the GlobalCoin could potentially meet the CFTC’s regulatory requirements. Nevertheless, the agency is open for discussions and examining all the details of the initiative. Giancarlo said:

“We’re very interested in understanding it better. We can only act on an application, we don’t have anything in front of us.”

However, at the same time, it is too early to give an answer whether Facebook’s GlobalCoin could fall under CFTC’s regulations. Giancarlo stated that in case it is backed by the U.S. dollar, a need for derivatives tied to it would be much lower.

Though CFTC finds the design of the project very clever, there are some other important issues to consider. And one of them is the social media giant’s approaches to the anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) measures. The agency needs to see how these measures, if any, will be implemented and used.

Facebook is Getting Ready for Its GlobalCoin Launch

CFTC is not the only body that Facebook has held talks with. Earlier it has been revealed that the social media giant is also in talks with some government officials in both the U.S. and the U.K. And the main goal of these discussions is to find out the opportunities for GlobalCoin in these countries.

According to the company’s plans, the launch of its own stablecoin will take place in the first quarter of 2020. It will be rolled out in the framework of Facebook’s Project Libra. The coin will offer Facebook’s global users a convenient option to make cross-border money transfers and to pay for their online purchases.

It is also known that Facebook is now trying to do its best to give a push to its crypto project. For example, it is holding negotiations with crypto exchanges and high-frequency trading platforms on the issue in listing its coin there. Facebook is in talks with the founders of popular cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, Winklevoss twins. However, again, it is difficult to say whether these two companies will reach an agreement. The reason for these doubts originates from previous long-going conflicts between the twins and Zuckerberg.

All in all, despite Facebook is working hard on the development of its GlobalCoin, it is unclear whether the company’s digital currency could be a real competitor to the world’s major cryptos. Meanwhile, there is an opinion that even if GlobalCoin doesn’t replace the top coins in the world’s rankings, it will be at least able to engage new users to come to the crypto space.

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