US Democrats Call For Facebook’s Libra Stablecoin To Be Put On Pause

US Democrats Call For Facebook’s Libra Stablecoin To Be Put On Pause

Since Facebook’s official announcement of its upcoming Libra stablecoin, there have been controversies, theories, hate and love floating around the crypto space. There have even been government authorities which have called for the social network to hit pause on its plan to develop a cryptocurrency payment platform like Libra/Calibra, which is exactly what a group of Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee is doing.

The lawmakers, whose panel will hold a hearing later in July in regards to project Libra, wrote a letter to company executives on Tuesday and expressed their worries with the cryptocurrency’ security and oversight while stressing the need to protect user’s privacy and fend off hackers.

The lawmakers wrote:

“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. These vulnerabilities could be exploited and obscured by bad actors, as other cryptocurrencies, exchanges, and wallets have been in the past.”

They continue, stating:

“Investors and consumers transacting in Libra may be exposed to serious privacy and national security concerns, cyber security risks, and trading risks. Those using Facebook's digital wallet — storing potentially trillions of dollars without depository insurance — also may become unique targets for hackers.”

The letter, written by the lawmakers and addressed to the CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Project Libra Chief David Marcus and the COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg, attempts to convince the firm's partners to “immediately agree to a moratorium on any movement forward on Libra." 

The Democrats have said their concerns were only increased by the past controversy that Facebook has sparked in terms of privacy and harvesting data of more than 50 million users worldwide.

“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 issues and take action.”

The whole Libra debate is just getting started and will be an interesting one to keep an eye on. Should it be ultimately released and implemented, Libra will be available on all of Facebook’s messaging services like WhatsApp and Messenger.

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