Facebook’s Libra Won’t Be Introduced In Countries That Ban Crypto’s Or Are Under US Sanctions

Whilst it looks like Facebook will have to deal with some regulatory hurdles before rolling out, another stumbling block will be the country’s attitude towards cryptos and whether or not that country is under sanctions.

Techcrunch spoke to a Calibra spokesperson who cited that sanctions and hostility towards cryptos is a no-no:

The Libra Blockchain will be global, but it will be up to custodial wallet providers to determine where they will and will not operate. Calibra won’t be available in U.S.-sanctioned countries or countries that ban cryptocurrencies

Calibra rep

This is disheartening news if you’re a crypto enthusiast living in Zimbabwe which might be found wanting on both ends. Last year, the RBZ came out and spit in the faces of crypto companies (particularly Golix) and enthusiasts when they essentially banned Cryptocurrency trading. Unless there’s an explicit u-turn by the central bank between now and the time Libra comes to market it, it might be safe to assume that Libra won’t be coming to market for Zimbos.

The second issue is that of sanctions… Boy, don’t we know about sanctions and how they have become intertwined with the narrative of Zimbabweans.

11/ Now the bad: Libra is clearly not a “pure cryptocurrency.” Nobody should expect privacy by using it. Nobody should expect the true borderless standard of most cryptos. Libra will never be available in Iran due to sanctions, for example.

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) June 18, 2019

This spells trouble for getting Libra in the hands of Zimbos and once you consider that you’ll have to verify your ID/Passport to sign up for Libra, it will be very hard for Zimbabweans (living in Zimbabwe) to find workarounds to sign up for Libra, if indeed these restrictions are in place when it finally does launch in 2020.