Facebook’s Libra will be disruptive, says ECB’s Coeure

Digital currencies such as Facebook’s Libra will disrupt the financial system, either by forcing central banks to innovate or by grabbing a global role that could challenge the dominance of the dollar, ECB board member Benoit Coeure said on Tuesday.

Looking to set up a cheap global payment network, Facebook announced plans earlier this year to create the Libra “stablecoin” by next year, spooking global regulators who are now scrambling to come up with the needed regulation.

“Global ‘stablecoin’ initiatives, such as Libra, will prove disruptive in one way or another,” Coeure told a conference in Luxembourg. “They are the natural result of rapid technological progress, globalisation and shifting consumer preferences.”