India not keen on allowing Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency

The Indian government is latest to show skepticism toward Facebook’s planned cryptocurrency Libra, according to a Bloomberg report on Monday.

“Design of the Facebook currency has not been fully explained. But whatever it is, it would be a private cryptocurrency and that’s not something we have been comfortable with,” secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs under the Indian Ministry of Finance Subhash Chandra Garg was quoted as saying in the report.

Last week, European Central Bank executive board member Benoit Coeure reportedly said that the Libra project is a “useful wake-up call” for global financial regulators and that they must act fast to prepare rules.

Most politicians and regulators around the world have been hesitant toward Libra, which is expected to go live sometime next year. Facebook, along with 27 founding partners including Uber and PayPal, aims to serve the unbanked and facilitate low-fee money transfers globally via Libra.