Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency will be launched as early as January but has been scaled down: FT

LONDON (Reuters) – Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is set to launch as early as January, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing three unidentified people involved in the project.

The Geneva-based Libra Association that will issue and govern Libra plans to launch a single dollar-backed digital currency, FT said, citing one of the people.

The move would represent an even greater downsizing of the project’s ambitions than the one proposed in April in response to a regulatory and political backlash against the project.

Libra, unveiled by Facebook Inc last year, was re-launched in a scaled-down form after regulators and central banks around the world raised concerns it could upset financial stability and erode core power over money.

The Libra Association, of which Facebook is one of 27 members, is seeking the green light from the Swiss market watchdog to issue a series of stablecoins backed by single traditional currencies, as well as a token based on the currency-pegged stablecoins.

However, under the body’s new plan, other coins backed by traditional currencies, as well as the composite, would be introduced at a later date, the FT said.

The Libra Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment. FINMA, the Swiss regulatory authority, did not process a statement in April confirming receipt of Libra’s application for a payment license.

Stablecoins are designed to avoid the volatility typical of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, making them in theory more suitable for payments and money transfers.