Despite taking a trip to Switzerland, the chair of the US House Financial Services Committee, Maxime Walters, has not had a change of heart when it comes to Libra. Facebook’s cryptocurrency project is still under heavy scrutiny about how it will be regulated, even if Swiss governmental officials feel like they have the answer.
Libra was quickly hauled into the Senate by Walters when its announcement became official. The concerns from the US Lawmakers pertained to Facebook, a privately-owned entity, trying to launch its own form of currency which was not made easier by its previous trips to the Senate.
Facebook has been criticized before for its managing of data in the well-publicized Cambridge Analytica scandal. This led Walters and several other lawmakers to question Facebook’s ability to safeguard over 2 billion people’s finances if it could not even protect their data.
Still, Libra continues to try and walk the line of regulations, across the globe, knowing it could well be an insurmountable task. The cryptocurrency project, registered in Switzerland, welcomed Walters and her delegates to try and assure them it is possible to get the cryptocurrency off the ground.
Walters, however, was not swayed. In a pretty blunt comment, the chair of the US House Financial Services Committee said she still had many concerns after meeting with Swiss representatives.
“While I appreciate the time that the Swiss government officials took to meet with us, my concerns remain with allowing a large tech company to create a privately controlled, alternative global currency,” Congresswoman Maxine Waters said in a statement.
Again, the issue does not seem to be with cryptocurrencies in general from Walters, rather the fact that Facebook is at the helm of this particular one. Facebook’s reputation lies in tatters when it comes to the regulators, so for them to suggest a new currency that will reach over a quarter of the planet is unsurprisingly concerning.
This has also caught the ire of several central bankers who feel that Facebook is trying to join their currency-issuing club. Benoit Coeure, a board member of the European Central Bank, highlighted it best saying that Facebook’s Libra coin will not launch until global regulators are satisfied.
Indeed, even Facebook has had to concede that the launch of this project rests heavily on the regulation of the coin. If they cannot regulate it to the standards of hundreds of countries across the world, it may not ever come to fruition
