Bank of Thailand Gets with Facebook About Examining the Libra Whitepaper’s Risks and Benefits

The release of the Facebook whitepaper has caused in interesting stir in countries around the world. While some countries have already issued a ban on this cryptocurrency, despite not coming out until next year, others are more open to the idea.

According to a report from Finance Magnates, the financial authorities in Thailand are presently in communication with Facebook over the new Libra cryptocurrency.

Siritida Panomwan from the Bank of Thailand commented that Facebook was the one to initiate the talks with authorities, adding that the central bank has already set up a task force regarding Libra.

This team is made up of experts, pulled from the legal, payment, and foreign exchange teams of the bank. Panomwan commented that the executives are presently keeping a close eye on the whitepaper.

He added, “Consumer benefits and risks incurred from the digital currency are the central bank’s main focus. We will also study the currency model, mechanism, security, and consumer protection, in case any problems crop up.”

Even though all of these news stories about the conflict with regulations are coming up now, the reality is that governments around the world already knew about Facebook’s plan for months. David Marcus, the head of the work on Libra, released a statement to this effect, saying that the official announcement followed “an initial consultative phase with regulators, central banks, and other organizations from all around the world.”

The statement basically leaves the public to decide if they believe Facebook’s claims that everyone knew, or the shock and awe being published abut the central banks.