David
Marcus, head of Facebook’s crypto wallet Calibra, stressed Facebook’s
intent to be compliant with the United States Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in distributing the Libra stablecoin. As a
Cointelegraph correspondent reports on July 16, Marcus delivered his
comments at the ongoing hearing on Facebook’s Libra with the Banking
Committee of the U.S. Senate.
Addressing the issues of money
laundering and terrorism financing, Senator Cortez Mastro asked Marcus
how Facebook is going to ensure that the platform is not being used for
such purposes. Marcus responded that “this is something that I care
about deeply, personally.” Marcus added that the company will have an
Anti-Money Laundering program, reiterating Facebook’s commitment to
FinCEN.
Marcus stated that “Calibra will be affordable and
accessible and also safe and secure” and will comply with FinCEN and
state regulation. According to Marcus, Libra Corporation will still
register with FinCEN despite the fact that it is registered in
Switzerland.
Some lawmakers met Marcus’ statements with skepticism
and concern. Sen. Martha McSally questioned Libra’s privacy and raised
informational concerns, asking why the lawmakers should continue to
trust the platform “based on your track record of failing and violating
and deceiving in the past.”
Sen. John Kennedy followed McSally’s
statement with the question “If Libra catches on and, let’s say, 200
million people are using it, someone is going to have access to all of
this data. [...] you are telling me that nobody in the Libra
Association is going to monetize that data?”
Tomorrow, July 17, lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives will hold a similar hearing
in the Financial Services Committee.Committee chairwoman Rep. Maxine
Waters has previously commented on the lack of uniform regulation in the
cryptocurrency industry.
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