New plans from Facebook to enter crypto space appear to be infuriating a group of Washington lawmakers who fear the media giant is cutting loose without regards to regulation.
The comments floating around Capitol Hill seem to be led by House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters who just wants to put the skids on the development of Facebook’s Libra coin so it can be examined by US regulators. California Democrat Waters, clearly not a fan of the media giant, feels that Facebook has gone too far already down the road to, as she put it, “unchecked expansion”. She commented this week:
“Facebook has data on billions of people and has repeatedly shown a disregard for the protection and careful use of this data… With the announcement that it plans to create a cryptocurrency, Facebook is … extending its reach into the lives of its users.”
Of course, using Facebook is a choice, and there are other mediums out there allowing users many of the functions that Facebook offers, so Waters point of it “extending its reach of the lives of its users” seems to indicate that users lack the ability to select what is best suited to their particular lifestyle. Users will always have a choice.
Senator Sherrod Brown, a Senate Banking Committee Democrat, also called for Facebook users to be protected but could provide no input into how this should be carried out, or by whom. Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the Financial Services Panel has called for a hearing, suggesting that Congress should go, “beyond the rumors and speculations and provide a forum to assess this project and its potential unprecedented impact on the global financial system”.
Other views out of Washington have been similar. Virginia Democrat, Senator Mark Warner saw Facebook as simply attempting to dominate new industries.
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