The only Canadian organization Facebook has signed up for its Libra digital currency expects domestic policymakers to follow the lead of the U.S. and the U.K. in regulating the token.
“We don’t see any reason why Canada would be meaningfully different than the much bigger markets,” said Sonia Sennik, executive director of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a Toronto-headquartered startup incubator.
Facebook claims its users and those of its subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp will be able to use Libra to transfer money more cheaply, particularly internationally. The tech giant also plans to offer financial services like loans based on the token.
In her first interview since Facebook announced the coin—and the Libra Association, a Geneva-based non-profit to govern it, of which CDL is a partner—on June 18, Sennik discussed why startups in her incubator might choose to use the token’s technology, what kind of regulation she’s expecting it to face and how her organization will be involved in Libra’s development.
