Facebook’s Crypto Annoys Everyone

A giant American company has decided to get into cryptocurrency. It has, with great fanfare but not a lot of specificity, announced plans for its own stablecoin, a cryptocurrency that would be useful in making payments and transferring money but that would not fluctuate in value the way Bitcoin does. These plans are at the very early stage, but the company is big and good at its job and has plenty of ability to hire smart engineers, so there’s reason to think they can work out. At first the stablecoin would mostly just be for the company’s own users making payments within its ecosystem, but over time, if all goes well, it might come to be an important independent part of the global financial system.

But the company has some issues. It is big, maybe too big: Politicians are always talking about breaking it up, and if it takes control of the money supply (or something like it) that will not assuage concerns about its bigness. It has had some big scandals in recent years, scandals that might be due to its size and hubris. It is not universally beloved. Its brash chief executive officer—who is sometimes rumored to be a potential presidential candidate—is a polarizing figure, and his embrace of crypto might be a reason for some people to oppose it. And really any crypto project like this will attract a lot of regulatory attention: Will it be used to break the rules that normally apply to banking and payments with U.S. dollars? Will the stablecoin really be stable? Can you trust the big company with your money, particularly if it’s this new and strange form of money?