San Francisco (AFP)

Attacked on all sides on its project of digital currency, Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Facebook, has placed himself on the geopolitical ground to defend the Libra: it will allow, according to him, to "perpetuate the predominance of the American financial system" in the world, especially with regard to China.

"While we are debating, the rest of the world is not waiting, China is actively preparing to launch similar ideas in the coming months," Zuckerberg said in a speech to be delivered Wednesday before a US parliamentary committee.

He describes the Libra as a major financial innovation, necessary to protect the country against the rise of China in the cryptocurrency sector.

Scheduled to be launched in 2020, the project faces an outcry from many governments around the world, who see it as a threat to the economic sovereignty of states, and do not trust the world's largest social network on his ability to protect personal data.

Facebook initially introduced the Libra as a tool that could change the lives of hundreds of millions of people excluded from financial services around the world. This new method of payment must indeed make it possible to send money as easily as an instant message, without resorting to the traditional banking circuits.

The founder of the platform has just added an economic and geopolitical argument with which he hopes to seduce the American elected officials who called him for an audition.

"Libra will rely primarily on the dollar, and I think it will perpetuate the dominance of the US financial system as well as our democratic values ​​in the world.If America does not innovate, our financial prevalence is not guaranteed, "he insists in his opening remarks.

- "Champions of American values" -

The young billionaire has acknowledged that Facebook's blunders about privacy and the protection of personal data may give the impression that the social network "is not the ideal messenger at the moment".

"But if the measured skepticism turns into pronounced hostility, it will endanger many advances, both in the world, where US technology groups have a chance to champion US values, but also at home," argues Mark Zuckerberg.

The Libra is "not an attempt to create a sovereign currency," he promises, recalling that the data collected by Calibra, the digital wallet, would be "clearly separated" from personal data held by Facebook.

"We understand that whatever our approach to promote financial inclusion, it must respond to the concerns of the regulatory authorities, be it money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions (geopolitics, Ed) or potential currency disturbances, "he explains.

The management of the future digital currency has been entrusted to the association Libra, an independent board of companies and non-profit organizations. But several key partners (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal ...) have abandoned the project in recent weeks, facing pressure from regulators.

Finance Minister Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday reiterated his opposition to the project, which he described as "premature", saying that many issues of concern remain unresolved, such as "the question of money laundering ".

Last week, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that Italy, Germany and France would "make it clear that Libra was not welcome in Europe".

- "Ready for everything" -

The arguments of Facebook boss have attracted the interest of some experts, without convincing skeptics.

"China sees the Libra as a comfortable advance threat that it has taken in financial technologies since 2013. The authorities must pay attention to it before putting in place rules that could stifle innovation at Facebook," he said. reacted economists at the Peterson Institute.

"Facebook is ready to do anything to launch the Libra on a large scale (...) The real question is Zuckerberg's dominance," tweeted Jennifer Grygiel, a professor at Syracuse University and a specialist in social networking.

Mark Zuckerberg "seeks to acquire even more political power for his group despite the dangers it represents for society," she wrote in June about the currency project.

David Marcus, Facebook project manager, has already defended the social network plan for more than two hours, in mid-July, during a hearing before a US Senate Banking Committee, assuring them that it would not be launched. without the approval of the regulators.

© 2019 AFP