WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration came out strongly Monday against Facebook’s ambitious plan to create a new digital currency, as the Treasury chief warned it could be used for illicit activity such as money laundering, human trafficking and financing terrorism.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed “very serious concerns” about the currency proposed by the social network giant, to be called Libra. “This is indeed a national security issue,” Mnuchin told reporters at the White House.
His comments came a few days after President Donald Trump tweeted that Libra “will have little standing or dependability.”
Trump, fresh off a “social media summit” he led at the White House that gathered conservative critics of Big Tech, tweeted last week: “I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”
If they want to get into the financial business, Facebook and its dozens of partner companies in the venture will have to accept the kind of tight regulation that banks are under, the president said.