Jo-an Chen
Cryptocurrencies are rising in popularity as both a means for investment and a medium for exchange for goods and services. In 2019, Facebook announced its intent to create a new stablecoin cryptocurrency called Libra as a means to promote financial inclusion and access to the unbanked population. After its initial failed launch in 2019 due to heavy regulatory criticism over data privacy, money laundering, and financial instability concerns, Facebook is once again seeking to relaunch the Diem Project in 2021. This Essay discusses the potential social benefits, the disruption to financial institutions, and the regulatory challenges that the Facebook Diem Project launch will bring. This Essay also focuses on a previously proposed countermeasure against the Diem Project: The Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act. Even though the Act died in the 116th Congress, any future attempts to reintroduce such an Act should be amended to take into account recent trends such as Big Tech partnerships with traditional financial institutions, the potential issuance of a central bank digital currency by the Federal Reserve, and the upcoming antitrust agendas being introduced in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust in the new 117th Congress.