, Columnist
Mark Zuckerberg Has Another Answer to Bitcoin
Facebook’s Libra has a new name and diminished ambitions, but regulators will still see it as a threat in 2021.
Take two.
Photographer: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images.
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Last year’s backlash against Facebook Inc.’s planned digital currency Libra would have been most CEOs’ worst nightmare.
Governments and regulators linked arms to repel a perceived threat to monetary sovereignty, financial stability and data privacy. The more Mark Zuckerberg tried to reassure politicians by talking up financial inclusion and innovation, the more he came across like a tobacco boss denying cigarettes are addictive. He even acknowledged the problem: “I get that I’m not the ideal messenger for this.”