With Halloween fast approaching, Facebook is haunted by the specter of its much-touted Libra crypto-currency falling flat on its face — or into an open grave. Six months ago the company trumpeted the crypto-currency as a financial tool that would replace ho-hum traditional currency around the world. But since then lawmakers have scorned it, regulators have minced it, and big investors such as Mastercard and Visa have developed cold feet and backed down from supporting it. 

But Facebook is nothing if not resilient. Company executives blanketed Washington last week woo back legislators into accepting Libra as a completely safe and salutary method of exchange. Regulators in the Capital have been wined and dined by Zuckerberg’s minions in a bold attempt to bring them back on track with a hands-off approach to the budding crypto-currency. And Mark Zuckerberg himself has already testified in hearings before Congress that Libra has all the advantages of internet banking without any of the drawbacks of other crypto-currencies and their debacles. 

Even though Facebook receives most of its profits from advertising, the company is loath to give up on the Libra program. Some say that’s because it’s the personal brainchild of Zuckerberg, but others posit that if the Libra program does take off it will in effect double the company’s profit margins by at least a billion dollars.