Facebook insisted that Libra would be secure and not another way to harvest user data. It said it would be run by a subsidiary called Calibra and that a Libra Association would oversee the Libra blockchain.

Facebook’s desire to handle payments already has attracted the angry baguette French finance minister Bruno Le Maire who said it was “out of question that Libra become a sovereign currency… it can’t and it must not happen”.

The official also called on the Group of Seven central bank governors to prepare a report on Facebook’s project for the upcoming July meetings. Le Maire’s fears were echoed by Markus Ferber, a German member of the European Parliament who took to — wait for it — Facebook to say that with more than two billion users, the company could become a “shadow bank” and that regulators should be on high alert.

“Multinational corporations such as Facebook must not be allowed to operate in a regulatory nirvana when introducing virtual currencies”, said Ferber.