Facebook’s crypto team holds talks with major banks

Bloomberg

The biggest US banks have a chance to get in on the new cryptocurrency spearheaded by Facebook Inc.
The association behind the Libra coin is in talks with the banks to participate in its governing body, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private negotiations. The person didn’t specify which banks were in talks.
“We’d take a look at it,” Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat said at the Fortune Brainstorm Finance conference in response to a question about whether his bank would join the association if asked. Facebook “did not approach us” ahead of the launch, he said.
Facebook said this week it hopes Libra will provide a low-cost way of sending money to the 1.7 billion people around the world without easy access to traditional financial services. The firm recruited more than two dozen other companies, including Visa Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc., to be founding members of the association governing the currency.
Dante Disparte, the head of policy and communication for the Libra Association, said the group is in touch with banks both in the US and abroad that he declined to identify.
Libra wants big lenders involved as founding memb-ers and as banking partners to help hold and manage its currency reserve, he said.
“Banks have an important role to play,” Disparte said in an email. “As such, we very much welcome their participation.” Libra continued to draw criticism from US lawmakers, with Representative Maxine Waters, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, telling CNBC that Congress plans to “move aggressively and very quickly to deal with” the currency.