Ripple CEO: Facebook’s Libra Will Not Launch Before 2023

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of blockchain payments network Ripple, thinks that Facebook will fail to launch its Libra digital currency before 2023. 

Garlinghouse bets on a three-year Libra delay

Speaking in an interview with Fortune on Oct. 7, Brad Garlinghouse argued that regulatory pushback would continue to plague the project that was only announced in June, noting:

“I would bet that Libra… let's say, by the end of 2022, I think Libra will not have launched.”

Garlinghouse also noted the various problems that governments around the world have raised with Facebook over its digital currency plans.

As Cointelegraph reported, it was Germany’s finance minister who most recently expressed concern, arguing that money issuance should remain in the hands of the state.

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, said likewise on Oct. 4, adding that the tech giant would not follow Facebook’s lead.

Facebook left with fewer allies

“I think maybe it would have been better received if Facebook had not been the point of the arrow,” Garlinghouse continued. He added that regulators likely saw Libra as a Facebook project.

The comments come after a particularly tough week for Facebook’s Libra Association, the nonprofit behind the project.

On Oct. 4, PayPal, one of its major backers, pulled out of participation altogether — citing worries that its own reputation would suffer.

“We remain supportive of Libra’s aspirations and look forward to continued dialogue on ways to work together in the future,” a representative of the firm told Cointelegraph.