The congressional hearings reveal that several politicians are not convinced about the safety aspects related to the cryptocurrency project.  They have grilled the social media giant by questioning them on privacy and trust-related issues.  However, Facebook has been stating that Libra is ready to work in compliance with regulators and that they are prepared to discuss the possible framework.

A draft bill titled, “Keep Big Tech out of Finance” has come out recently.  The document read:  “A large platform utility may not establish, maintain, or operate a digital asset that is intended to be widely used as medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value, or any other similar function, as defined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.” The bill, according to experts, is a stunt move towards the Libra.

Another question that has recently come up is whether the US government has the power to prevent the coming of Libra.  The regulatory movement in the US is currently very hostile towards Libra.

The coming of Libra is a threat to their sovereign currencies and a celebration to smaller cryptocurrencies like the TCAT tokens.

Sen. Sherrod Brown stated, Libra is a “recipe for more corporate power over markets and consumers.”

Tech giants are now lobbying spenders.  Despite the scrutiny, the business operations have continued to be intact of note, Facebook’s $5bn fine from the FTC.

Stylianou stated, “A complete ban like the one proposed by the bill is an extreme and untimely measure.”

There are other laws which place a structural and non-structural separation between banking and non-banking activities. This cannot be applied to Libra as in the first place; it is not clear about the kind of financial instrument the Libra is set to be.

William McCormick, CEO at Pure Knot stated, “The last couple of years of cryptocurrency development has provided a blueprint for Facebook to follow and it is up to them if they take it on board.” 

John Todaro, director of research at Tradeblock, stated, “Facebook is still heavily subject to government laws and regulations around data collection, privacy, and taxation. “

Kris Marszalek, stated, “It seems there is only one thing the US Gov and Facebook agree on: cryptocurrency is the future.”  The CEO further noted that he was confident about Facebook capturing this opportunity in complete compliance.

Lawmakers are eventually increasing the pressure on Facebook to halt their Libra operations. It now seems that the government needs to understand the crypto before the launch.