‘I don’t like it one bit’: Bitcoin Joe Kernen hits out at Libra

CNBC host Joe Kernen, better known on Crypto Twitter as Bitcoin Joe, has taken an axe to Facebook’s Libra project.

Reacting to media reports that founding members of the Libra Association have developed cold feet following pushback from regulators, he said: “I don’t like it one bit. I don’t like it because it’s Facebook. I don’t like it because it’s centralised. I don’t like it because it’s like a debit card, it doesn’t have any inherent value. I don’t like anything about it. Just get yourself PayPal or Venmo, or something like that”.

When it was suggested that in some parts of the world the stablecoin could be helpful, for instance where large numbers of people are unbanked, Kernen responded: “It’s based on a fiat currency, so it solves nothing. You think they’re doing this out of the goodness of their own hearts? There are people taking a cut. It isn’t decentralised. Mark Zuckerberg is going to steal all your private data and now know all about your bank account”.

There’s such a thing as unforgeable value, antiques, gold etc. And that’s how Bitcoin is different to Libra, he concluded.