Facebook sets up new cryptocurrency firm in Switzerland

Social media giant Facebook has taken one step closer to the digital asset industry by registering a blockchain payments firm called Libra in Switzerland.

According to Reuters, which cites Geneva’s commercial register, Libra Networks was registered in Geneva at the start of May.

A report by the Wall Street Journal claimed that Facebook was in the process of “hiring dozens of financial firms and online merchants” to help launch a cryptocurrency-based payments network.

The United States Senate chairman Mike Crapo recently wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in regards to a number of regulatory, legal, and privacy issues in connection with the rumoured cryptocurrency launch.

Facebook has been under intense scrutiny over the past year after it emerged that users’ data was being harvested and used for purposes that were ambiguous to users.

In the letter to Zuckerberg, Crapo wrote: “How would this new cryptocurrency-based payment system work, and what outreach has there been to financial regulators to ensure it meets all legal and regulatory requirements?”

He added: “What privacy and consumer protections would users have under the new payment system?”

Coin Rivet reported earlier this month that Facebook was looking to raise around $1 billion for Project Libra, intensifying speculation over the firm’s plans for a native cryptocurrency.

Facebook has so far refused to comment on Libra Networks and a planned cryptocurrency.

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