US lawmakers have formally asked Facebook to freeze the development on its cryptocurrency Libra. The same will be on halt until the congress investigates the consequences of the company’s actions.
In a letter, the committee has asked the company to “immediately cease implementation plans” of its cryptocurrency. Before the tech giant moves ahead with Libra, the House Financial Services Committee, led by Democrat Maxine Waters wants to inspect risks regarding cyber security,global financial markets and national security concerns
“We write to request that Facebook and its partners immediately agree to a moratorium on any movement forward on Libra — its proposed cryptocurrency and Calibra — its proposed digital wallet,” the committee wrote. “It appears that these products may lend themselves to an entirely new global financial system that is based out of Switzerland and intends to rival US monetary currency and the dollar. This raises serious privacy, trading, national security and monetary policy concerns for not only Facebook’s over 2 billion users, but also for investors, consumers and the global economy.”
Libra, launched last month by Facebook amid much fanfare, would be lead by it’s first consumer “wallet” for the currency through it’s Calibra subsidiary. The wallet is expected to be launched in 2020 and will be accessible to the users on Messenger, WhatsApp including it’s standalone app.
The development would be handed over to the Libra Association headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Facebook eyed Libra to “make it easy for everyone to send and receive money just like you use our apps to instantly share messages and photos,” said Mark Zuckerberg.
Critics claimed that Libra’s terms of service includes the sharing of user data in certain circumstances. Being the web dominator that it is, the company would play a key role in digital payments.
Facebook claims that one of the reasons it announced Libra so far ahead of its official launch was to address any concerns that may arise.
