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Shortly after Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency was announced, US Rep. Maxine Waters released a statement asking the tech giant to temporarily stop forward progress on the Libra until some questions were answered. Now, 4 other US lawmakers have joined in sending a formal letter to Facebook, imploring them to halt the Libra until regulatory concerns are addressed.
In addition to Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, the letter is also signed by Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Chair of the Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets Subcommittee; William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Chairman of the Housing, Community Development and Insurance Subcommittee; Al Green (D-TX), Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee; and Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA), Chairman of the Task Force on Financial Technology. The letter was addressed to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg and CEO of Calibra David Marcus.
The letter opens with the following plea:
"We write to request that Facebook and its pa1tners immediately agree to a moratorium on any movement forward on Libra-its proposed cryptocurrency and Calibra-its proposed digital wallet. It appears that these products may lend themselves to an entirely new global financial system that is based out of Switzerland and intended to rival U.S. monetary policy and the dollar. This raises serious privacy, trading, national security, and monetary policy concerns for not only Facebook's over 2 billion users, but also for investors, consumers, and the broader global economy."
The letter then discusses the sheer number of industry names who have partnered on this project, noting that even more are expected to come on, but then transitions into the point that the projects whitepaper is scarce on details as to how the Libra will be distributed, protected and regulated. Mention is made that there is no current plan in place to insure the Libra that users purchase, and that the system as a whole will undoubtedly be a huge target for hackers.
After this, the company's somewhat shady legal and ethical practices in recent history are brought up, highlighting that there still aren't good answers to some of the data driven issues Facebook has been caught up in.
The letter ends with a repeat of the call for cessation, though rather vague terms for failure on Facebook's part to comply:
"Because Facebook is already in the hands of over a quarter of the world's population, it is imperative that Facebook and its partners immediately cease implementation plans until regulators and Congress have an opportunity to examine these issues and take action. During this moratorium, we intend to hold public hearings on the risks and benefits of cryptocurrency-based activities and explore legislative solutions. Failure to cease implementation before we can do so, risks a new Swiss-based financial system that is too big to fail."
Will this get Facebook to hit the brakes on the new asset? Or will they snub US lawmakers? Stick with Chepicap for all updates!