Antitrust regulators in the European Union launched a probe into Libra earlier this week to examine whether the payments service could hurt competition and grant an unfair advantage over rivals. The move followed a bipartisan backlash to Libra in the United States, where President Trump, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., are just a few leading officials to raise questions about Libra’s potential to harm the U.S. economy.When POTUS Trump & Maxine Waters are on the same page, you know something is up. We could say Rep Waters as the Chair the House Banking Committee is corrupt, but that would be unfair — self-serving sure, corrupt we could not qualify.
None the less, the parties enjoining int he critzim of Facebook and their finacial allies is impressive.
The allies being, as Foxbusiness (who referenced Financial Times) said
members of the Libra Association, a Switzerland-based organization composed of 28 entities, including Visa, Uber and Spotify, who are set to invest in the cryptocurrency platform and oversee its operations
Why worry about this?
The first reason is obvious. Setting up in Switzerland should raise anyone's flags. Granted it would be worse if it happened some random third-world countries that nobody thinks about like Trinidad, but all these companies are publicily traded. So as you guessed it, this is the new game.A company in Trinidad apparently sold ballpoint pens to a sister company for $8,500 (£6,600) apiece, resulting in more profit booked in low-tax Trinidad and less in higher-tax regimes elsewhere. - BBCThe second reason is not as obvious to everyone. Libra, like a lot of the public crypto-currencies keeps a public ledger. This means if anyone knew your "public crypto-key" they would know it was you. And in Facebook's case, they have all your public information.
SOURCES
Facebook Libra backers consider dropping out of project amid regulatory scrutiny: Reporthttps://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/facebook-libra-backers-consider-dropping-out
By Thomas Barrabi - August 23, 2019
How much of the world's wealth is hidden offshore? https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40442595 By Tim Harford - 31 July 2017
A company in Trinidad apparently sold ballpoint pens to a sister company for $8,500 (£6,600) apiece, resulting in more profit booked in low-tax Trinidad and less in higher-tax regimes elsewhere.
