The chair of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee
is doubling down on her calls for Facebook to pause development on its
new blockchain, Libra.
Two days after calling for a hearing, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) appeared on CNBC Thursday afternoon calling for a “moratorium” on Libra development.
“It’s very important for them to stop right now what
they’re doing so that we can get a handle on this,” Waters said of the
social media giant. “We’ve got to protect our consumers. We just can’t
allow them to go to Switzerland with all of its associates and begin to
compete with the dollar.”
CNBC’s Waters interview made it clear her concerns are
more with Facebook than with the company’s announced cryptocurrency
project. Waters highlighted an ongoing investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into potential privacy violations concerning consumer data. She also mentioned a Department of Housing and Urban Development lawsuit that accuses Facebook of violating fair housing laws.
“And while we’re doing that they have moved on to develop this
cryptocurrency,” Waters said on CNBC. “We’re now going to move and we’re
going to move aggressively and very quickly to deal with what is going
on with this new cryptocurrency.”
Waters isn’t alone in calling for public hearings on
Facebook’s crypto aspirations, which were announced Tuesday. The U.S.
Senate’s banking committee has already scheduled a July 16 hearing on Libra. Facebook blockchain lead David Marcus is reportedly expected to testify, according to The Verge.
