The hearings on the Libra project are already taking place in the Financial Services Committee of the US House of Representatives, which is chaired by one of the most active public critics of the project, Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
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- North Carolina senator Patrick McHenry said that the lack of understanding by legislators of new technologies should not be a pretext for their immediate ban. He acknowledged that the changes have already taken place: digital currencies exist, the blockchain technology is real, and Satoshi Nakamoto’s technology cannot be stopped, regardless of whether Facebook is involved in this or not. Senator said that governments cannot stop these innovations. Those who tried, already lost. His colleagues from the Republican Party and he will try to understand Libra.
- David Marcus said that Libra is not a security or ETF, but it can be a commodity, although it was conceived as a means of payment. Answering the question about what Libra is, he answered: it is a digital currency supported by a reserve.
- When Libra becomes completely decentralized, all validators are likely to be large companies interested in complying with AML measures. At least Facebook and David Marcus are counting on it. Up to this point, the Libra Association will perform AML verification on the node side.
- Wallets for Libra can be considered competitors of Chinese AliPay and WeChat, said Marcus.
- Congresswoman Maloney said that she thinks that they should not run Libra at all.
- Congresswoman Maloney demanded that Marcus agree to a limited Libra pilot program with 1 million users. Otherwise, in her opinion, Congress should ban Libra. Calibra's CEO did not give a direct answer.
- David Marcus confirmed that the US dollar will be the main currency in Libra Reserve.
- David Marcus said that Calibra is more likely not to charge commissions from ordinary users.
- Calibra will allow users to calculate what tax they should pay from their transfers. At least this applies to American users.
- David Marcus stressed that Libra is different from cryptocurrency because it will perform the payment function. He stressed that he did not know whether cryptocurrency needed regulation. Congressman Bill Huizenga advised Marcus to consider working in politics because he avoids monosyllabic "yes" or "no" answers.
- Marcus could not answer the question whether Milo Yiannopoulos, known for his right-wing political views, could use Calibra. "I do not know yet".
- Congressman Sherman, a famous Bitcoin critic, said that Libra is one of the most important topics that the committee will deal with this decade. "We need Zuckerberg here. This is his project." He also said that Bitcoin is used by drug dealers and the Hamas organization.
- Sherman continues to argue that terrorists and drug dealers could potentially use Libra's private “cryptocurrency”, although Marcus had previously announced a KYC procedure in Calibra and AML measures in the Libra Association.
- Marcus continues to explain to congressmen that this is not about anonymous darknet transfers since all wallets will carry out a KYC procedure and comply with AML standards.
- David Marcus expressed confidence that banks will join the association.
- To the question "if Facebook buys Spotify, will they have two votes in the association?" Marcus replied "no".
- David Marcus does not know how much money will be on average in a Libra user account. Congressman San Nicolas does not believe him.
- Until we do not get regulatory approval in the US, there will be no launch, Marcus said.
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