BERN, Switzerland—Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project must meet the highest standards for combating money laundering and terrorism financing if it is to get off the ground, a senior U.S. Treasury official said.
Any cryptocurrency project, including Geneva-based Libra, operating in all or substantial parts of the United States will clearly have to satisfy U.S. regulatory standards, U.S. Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker stated, according to Reuters.
“Whether it’s bitcoin, Ethereum or Libra, our message is the same to all of these companies: anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism has to be built into your design from the get-go,” Mandelker said.
Remarks Follow Meeting
Mandelker’s remarks came after meeting Swiss government officials and representatives from the Bank for International Settlements and other international financial bodies to discuss cryptocurrencies including the planned Libra project, which is to be launched by a Swiss-based association, Reuters noted.
While the digital currency industry has paid tremendous attention to developing the underlying technology, much of the industry has paid far too little attention to ensuring that the networks they are building do not enable terrorists and other bad actors to hide and move money, Mandelker said.