Facebook's Libra Chief Prepares for Congressional Grilling Over Crypto Plans
Calibra head David Marcus prepares to testify before Congress, stating that the Libra Association faces Swiss regulation while promising U.S. compliance. Lawmakers face a steep learning curve regarding the complex cryptocurrency ahead of the hearings.
David Marcus, the head of Facebook's blockchain subsidiary Calibra, releases his prepared testimony ahead of his upcoming appearances before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee. He explains that the Libra Association faces regulation and supervisory oversight by the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority because the organization is headquartered in Geneva. At the same time, Marcus emphasizes that the association and Calibra fully intend to comply with all applicable U.S. laws regarding taxes, anti-money laundering, and fraud.
Despite these assurances of compliance, some lawmakers push back aggressively against the social network's cryptocurrency plans. Representative Maxine Waters sends a letter directly demanding that Facebook and the Libra Association halt development entirely until regulators and Congress have adequate time to examine the project. This calls into question how the upcoming hearings unfold given the tight timeline for the planned early 2020 launch.
A major underlying concern is whether Congress possesses the technical savvy to understand a semi-decentralized stablecoin well enough to regulate it coherently. Previous congressional hearings with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg feature notoriously clueless questions from lawmakers regarding basic business models. To address financial sovereignty fears, Marcus explicitly states in his testimony that the Libra Association has no intention of competing with sovereign currencies or interfering in monetary policy.