“We don’t have plenary authority over cryptocurrencies,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Facebook’s Libra regulation

The chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Jerome Powell recent remarks regarding the newly announced Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency suggests that the new project carries both benefits and risks. Powell was speaking during a press conference broadcasted via PBS news hour on June 19.

The chair said in response to whether Libra threatens the authority of the Federal Reserve that digital assets are a long way to replacing central banks and that the central bank is realizing their infancy and is not about to implement monetary policy.

As to whether Libra will have to be regulated by the central bank, Powell maintains that they have no primary function connecting them cryptocurrencies accept when it comes to the issue of consumer protection and money laundering.

“We don’t have plenary authority over cryptocurrencies as such. They play into our world through consumer protection and money laundering […]  but I would say that through international forums we have significant input into the payment system and [...] play an important role in the payment system here in the United States.”