Circle Will Distance Itself From Facebook’s Libra, CEO Confirms

The latest cryptocurrency news show that Jeremy Allaire’s company is looking to distance itself from the cryptocurrency that is expected to be issued by Facebook, the Libra coin. The news that Circle will distance itself from Facebook’s Libra went viral after Facebook has joined the fray with its long awaited cryptocurrency.

Speaking of, the Libra coin is designed to be backed by a basket of fiat currencies (and possible other financial instruments). With this, the spotlight on stablecoins has grown brighter. However, Jeremy Allaire, who is testifying in front of the U.S. Senate on July 30, wants the lawmakers to understand the differences between Circle’s stablecoin USD Coin and the upcoming Libra cryptocurrency.

Circle will distance itself from the Facebook coin but it seems like it is not the first or only company that is doing so. Allaire is not alone in this, which we saw when the Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently urged Congress not to “paint all digital currencies with one broad brush.”

As the coming altcoin news show, blockchain companies are distancing themselves from Facebook’s Libra coin. Even though the cryptocurrency is said to have been very good for Bitcoin for the amount of attention that it brought to crypto, it has become a big taboo from a regulatory perspective.

Now that Circle will distance itself from Libra, Allaire noted that stablecoins are “critical building blocks for the future digital economy.” However, he pointed out that not all stablecoins are the same “flavor.” For instance, while his (USD Coin) is backed by a 1:1 single fiat currency which is the US dollar, Libra is backed by multiple currencies. As Allaire noted in the altcoin news, Circle’s stablecoin has more use cases than Libra.

“While USDC was initially launched with a focus on trading and markets use-cases, similar to Libra, it has been designed to expand into payments and settlement for both consumers and businesses. Because it is built on the most popular smart contract platform, Ethereum, we also expect USDC to be used for financial contracts and other tokenized digital assets,” he noted.

Allaire’s upcoming testimony before the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs could be particularly impactful now that Circle will distance itself from Libra but also move the business away from the US and into Bermuda.