Lawmakers have a very sceptical attitude to Facebook’s coin. So the team of Facebook was concerned about this and announced that the company wants to create a means of cheap and secure payments around the world.
Related: Facebook presents a new payment system on its social media
David Marcus announced that they understand the big idea may take a lot of time and that many lawmakers and policymakers are having some questions. He mentioned that the team can not do all the work alone, so they need governments, regulators, central banks and other institutions to give feedback and support their project.
Letter of David Marcus follows repeated requests from House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, that Facebook stops the token’s creation until policymakers have a better understanding of how it might be governed. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the banking panel’s top Democrat, has asked a question on many lawmakers’ thoughts: if Facebook can’t defend its users’ personal data, how can it be trusted to secure their financial information?
A big test for Facebook is working to influence lawmakers that there’s nothing evil about Libra comes next week. The Senate Banking Committee is holding a hearing on the token July 16, followed by a House Financial Services Committee hearing the next day. Marcus, the executive leading Facebook’s Libra and blockchain efforts, is scheduled to testify before both committees.
The hearings come at a pivotal time for Facebook, which already faces distrust in Washington over its power, major data breaches and a Russian hijack of its platform during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.In the letter published by the Senate panel Tuesday, Marcus said Facebook has reached out to regulators across the globe and will guarantee that consumers are protected and that the role of central banks and governments with Libra is “appropriate.” He also said that Facebook’s Libra subsidiary, Calibra, has applied for state money transmitter licenses and is registered with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which tries to detect money laundering and other financial crimes.
Facebook, which is ostensibly just one member of a larger Libra Association, has taken the lead on reaching out to regulators and stakeholders to lobby for the digital currency. But Marcus said in the letter that the Libra Association, which includes payments giants like Mastercard and Visa, will continue Facebook’s outreach role as the association grows.