Hearing Libra in front of the US Senate Banking Committee

On Tuesday, David Marcus, head of the Libra Facebook project, was heard by the US Senate Banking Committee.

Overall, the main concerns expressed by senators were Facebook’s controversial history of personal data protection. Most senators have pointed out that Facebook does not benefit from the trust of the authorities. This aspect means that it is struggling from the start with major prejudices when it comes to a project that is based on financial issues.

In the Libra Hearing, very few concrete issues related to the project itself have been addressed

In general, Marcus reiterated the issues already outlined about the project, underlining that it is a developing concept. He argued that the main reason why the whitepaper was launched long before the official launch is precisely to have time to clarify all aspects of Libra’s functionality.

The new issues are:

• Calibra Association will not be responsible for checking or approving Libra-compliant wallets developed by other entities;
• Users’ funds will be secured (by an unspecified method) so that in case of fraud users can be compensated. It has not been clarified whether this will happen by reversing the transaction or through an insurance system;
• Users will be able to select what information about their transactions are collected and transmitted for marketing purposes;
• The reporting responsibility of the transactions falls on the users’ shoulders. One of the senators asked whether the Association would report to the IRS the transactions to ensure that the taxes owed to the state are paid.

“The status quo is not working for many people and it’s time for progress in financial services for those who are out of the system at present. This is the main motivation for the Libra project. We have decided to assume for the time being the leading role in this change, “

said Marcus.