Facebook was asked to put Libra on hold
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, suggested a measure like this soon after the announcement of the project. Today’s letter from Waters, sent to Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, and Calibra CEO David Marcus, formalizes this request from a few weeks ago. Apart from Waters, the letter is signed by the representatives of the subcommittee of House Finance.
“If products and services like these are left improperly regulated and without sufficient oversight, they could pose systemic risks that endanger U.S. and global financial stability ” Water writes. ” These vulnerabilities could be exploited and obscured by bad actors, as other cryptocurrencies, exchanges, and wallets have been in the past.”
” We look forward to working with lawmakers as this process moves forward, including answering their questions at the upcoming House Financial Services Committee hearing ” a Facebook spokeswoman said on Tuesday to The Verge.
” Because Facebook is already in the hands of over a quarter of the world’s population, it is imperative that Facebook and its partners immediately cease implementation plans until regulators and Congress have an opportunity to examine these risks and take action, ” the letter suggests.