Swiss officials dashed hopes for Libra, a cryptocurrency project championed by Facebook and to be located in Switzerland: "Switzerland cannot grant Libra a permit in its current form," finance minister Ueli Maurer said at a press conference, according to Swiss daily "Neuen Zuercher Zeitung" (behind paywall, in German).

Facebook's Libra currency is trying and failing, or at least getting into trouble. The company is facing challenges just to bring the currency work while juggling ethical issues. The public PayPal exit set off a series of events and reports reveal more companies are leaving the association.

After Jerome Powell's neutral-to-slightly-dovish-but-mostly-boring speech on Friday morning, investors could be forgiven for suspecting that this year's Fed-sponsored gathering in Jackson Hole might be disappointingly dull (especially with all that's going on in Trump's twitter feed, the escalating trade war and escalating geopolitical unrest).

The backlash against Facebook's Libra project has begun. The House of Representatives' Committee on Financial Services has written to Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and the chief executive of Calibra, David Marcus, asking for a moratorium on the development of both Libra Coin itself and Facebook's bespoke wallet, Calibra.

Facebook announced the launch of its new cryptocurrency, Libra, on Tuesday. But the critics already have their doubts. France's finance minister was among the first to voice his misgivings over Libra, saying it must not be allowed to become a "sovereign currency."