Facebook Hints That It Will Continue To Push Libra Ahead

Libra head David Marcus stood in front of the U.S House Committee on Financial Services and testified for the second time before them that he and everyone else who oversees Libra will make sure there are no loopholes in how the digital currency is regulated, in order to not allow wiggle room for any illegal activity. 

Marcus added that they will not launch the cyrptocurrency until they have “addressed all concerns fully”. 

Blockstream CEO Samson Mow mentioned that Libra might be trying to grasp on too many things at once and wants to do too much: “Libra can’t be everything for everyone, and it can’t be both open and closed at the same time,” Mow said on Twitter.  

Marcus addressed that particular concern during his testimony as well and explained that Libra has been open sourced and the result of that was that “it doesn’t belong to us anymore, It is now belonging to the community and they will help build the code and we will relinquish control over both the codebase and network through the process.”

Rep. Carolyn Maloney didn’t seem convinced and, during an exchange with Marcus, she told him that she does not think he should even “launch Libra at all, because the creation of a new currency is a core government function and should be left to democratically accountable institutions, that are accountable to the American people. But at the very least, you should agree to do this small pilot program first, fully overseen by the Federal Reserve and the SEC.”

Marcus did not agree or disagree with the idea of a pilot program and instead insisted that he “will continue to engage with regulators and the working group at the G7 that is looking after the issues that you raise and making sure that however we launch this, we do it responsibly.”

Maloney is not the only lawmaker who is taking a stance against Libra: Rep. Maxine Waters, Chair of the House Finance Committee, called for Facebook to put the cryptocurrency on hold and her office put into motion a bill that aims to stop the project in its tracks and bar any other tech platforms from providing any sort of financial services. 

Facebook Asked To Postpone Cryptocurrency Plans Due To Congress Investigation

It’s worth mentioning that not every single lawmaker in the U.S is against the project: Rep. Nydia Velázquez was more lenient towards Libra. 

“We do not want to stifle innovation,” Velázquez said “but we do have a healthy dose of skepticism.“