Facebook Holds Talks With CFTC Over GlobalCoin Cryptocurrency: Report

Facebook has started a discussion with the U.S. Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over the social media giant's crypto stablecoin initiative.

According to a report from the Financial Times on Sunday, the CFTC chairman Christopher Giancarlo said the agency held "very early stages of conversations” with Facebook. The goal was to better understand if the firm's crypto stablecoin could potentially fall under the CFTC's regulatory remit.

“We’re very interested in understanding it better,” Giancarlo was quoted as saying in the report. “We can only act on an application, we don’t have anything in front of us.”

The news comes amid recent reports that Facebook also held talks with government officials in both the U.S. and the U.K. to discuss opportunities and regulatory issues for its crypto stablecoin called GlobalCoin.

The cryptocurrency, under Facebook's Project Libra, is reportedly aimed to allow Facebook's global users to transfer money across borders and to make online purchases.

Giancarlo added it's now too soon to say whether Facebook's GlobalCoin could fall under CFTC's remit but said if the cryptocurrency could be backed by the U.S. dollar, then there might be less of a need for derivatives tied to it.

“That’s very clever,” Giancarlo said of this design. However, the report added that one top compliance issue by regulators is whether and how Facebook will adhere to and implement the anti-money laundering and know-your-customer measures.

CFTC image via Shutterstock