- Facebook’s David Marcus has appeared before US Congress to testify about Libra
- He says the firm will register with US regulators and that internal security is being developed
Within days of Facebook releasing the white paper for their Libra token, they were summoned by US congress to testify about their plans regarding the token as there were concerns about how it would affect the economy and also what implications it would have regarding safety.
Today on July 16, a hearing was held in Congress between Facebook and several Congresspeople with Facebook being represented by David Marcus, the head of the Calibra wallet. It was a significant meeting that brought the topic of crypto and the future of finance onto the world stage.
Facebook unable to prevent fraud with Libra
One of the most common concerns regarding cryptocurrencies and Libra, in particular, is its ability to guard against loss of funds for customers and the use of the token for fraudulent activities and this was a point brought up by Senator Jon Tester and David Marcus responded that Facebook would do it best to prevent any of these issues and is working on resolving them before the token goes live.
Besides the issue of internal security, there was the implication of foreign powers taking control of the token as senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio stated that one of the reasons that Facebook should not launch the Libra token is that “If our country fails to act, we could soon see a digital currency controlled by others whose values differ radically from ours.”
The Libra corporation is registered in Switzerland and this was a point brought up by the committee chair Mike Crapo with David Marcus stating that the firm also intends to register with US regulators and also pointed out that all data regarding the users will be separate on the Calibra network and that Facebook is doing its best to provide the highest levels of privacy to their users.
In response to a question by senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, Marcus stated that the token can be stored on another wallet beside the official Calibra wallet.
GOP leader praises Bitcoin
House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy had a bit of a viral moment where he took time to praise bitcoin by stating that he likes it but bashed Libra’s token plans. According to him, his love of bitcoin is because of the security of blockchain technology and that Libra is not a decentralized token whilst also making reference to Facebook’s Chequered past of selling user data.
“When I’m on Facebook, I’m not the customer, I’m the product,” he said. “Facebook is free because they sell your data to make money. Now they want to get into the business, and they’re not bitcoin, in this Libra. They’re not decentralized.”
This hearing served as a kind of education for many across the globe about the benefits and challenges facing not only Libra but cryptocurrency in general.
