The Block: Libra is ‘inevitable,’ better to embrace it, says its investor, a French billionaire

French tycoon Xavier Niel, founder of telecoms group Iliad and one of the investors in the Facebook-led stablecoin project Libra, has said that Libra is “inevitable” and “will exist” like the other 1,000+ cryptocurrencies in market.

In his column in French financial newspaper Les Echos, published Friday, Niel further said that denying Libra or closing the door on it would not be profitable to anyone.

“With libra, payments will be much more direct, interpersonal and fast," said Niel, adding that there will be no middleman to impact costs and no monopoly of banks.

Further defending the project, the billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion , said that Libra is a “reliable” project and “data protection is guaranteed.”

“The fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism are still ours,” he said, adding: “Even if the concerns are legitimate, we must provide answers, without trying to prohibit, without even measuring the benefits for all.”

Just last month, France's finance and economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, said that the country will halt the development of Libra in Europe because it threatens the “monetary sovereignty” of governments. Earlier, the minister has said that Libra “can’t and...must not happen” and that “it is out of question’’ for the proposed stablecoin to “become a sovereign currency.”