US Senator: Facebook is very dangerous. Libra is not worthy of our trust.

According to foreign media reports, the US Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee (SCBHUA) held a hearing on Facebook's digital cryptocurrency Libra on Tuesday night. David Licus, head of the Facebook Libra project, attended the hearing and gave testimony.

Sherrod Brown, a senior member of the committee and Democratic senator, said in the opening remark: "Facebook has always been dangerous. This time, Facebook may not intend to be dangerous, but certainly will not respect what they are doing. The power of technology (Libra). Just like a child who just learned to walk has got a match, Facebook burned the house over and over again, and each time called it a learning experience."

At the hearing, Brown repeatedly mentioned what he called Facebook's "competition mission", which is to make the world more closely connected, but only to make money for themselves. He said: "A scandal has proved that Facebook is not worthy of trust. Just like other companies, it should be treated as a profit-seeking company. If we give them a chance, let them use It’s crazy to experiment with people’s bank accounts.”

In addition, Brown also criticized Facebook's early motto "move fast and break things." During the period, Brown mentioned the propaganda role played by Facebook in the violence in Myanmar, and also mentioned the role of Facebook in disrupting the business model of news publications.

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Brown said: "They acted quickly and broke our political discourse. They acted quickly and broke the journalism. They acted quickly to help incite a violent incident. They act quickly and are helping to undermine our democracy."

“Today, Facebook asks people to trust them with hard earned salaries. What Facebook wants to say is, 'Do you know what we should do next? Let us run our own banks and our own profitable federations. Reserve system. Let us do this for the whole world."

Later in the hearing, Brown also asked Mark Libra, the head of the Facebook Libra project, to ask him if he

Believe in Libra, so willing to accept Libra to pay all his salary. Marcus initially avoided the issue, saying that "Libra does not compete with bank accounts."

But Marcus then said that he was willing to accept Libra as his salary. He said: "If your question is, whether I am willing to use Libra as my entire asset, the answer is 'YES', I am willing."

"killing" strategy

 

Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner sees Libra as a manifestation of Facebook's so-called "catch and kill" strategy of acquiring small companies in emerging technology to limit competition. Marcus said that the breadth and depth of the Libra Association will make its cryptocurrency projects available on a large scale.

Marcus said that in addition to Facebook, the Libra Association has the first 27 "Founding Members" covering payments, technology, telecommunications, blockchain and venture capital industries, including Mastercard, PayPal, Visa, Vodafone, eBay. , Lyft, Spotify, Uber, and Andreessen Horowitz. In the future, the number of members is expected to increase to 100.

Marcus also said that the current Facebook team leads the Libra Association. But once the Libra network is launched, Facebook and its affiliates will have the same privileges, commitments and financial obligations as any other founding member of the association. Facebook has only one vote and cannot control this completely independent organization.

Affecting the global financial system

 

Marcus also answered the question from Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton about how Libra will affect the ability of the United States to implement effective sanctions. Cotton said that Iran has been working hard to develop its own digital cryptocurrency.

Marcus said: "I am very glad that you raised this question because I believe that if we are not leading in this field, others will. Just as we will eventually have two Internets and two different infrastructures, we will Have two different financial systems and two different financial networks."

Marcus also said that if the United States does not act quickly, national security may be threatened and the global financial system may become fragmented.

Libra is different from Bitcoin

 

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said before the hearing that he likes the decentralization and security of Bitcoin, but is worried about Facebook Libra.

McCarthy said: "I want to see decentralization, because Libra makes me worry that they will control the market." He also said: "When I use Facebook, I am not a customer, I am a product. Facebook is free because they pass Selling your data to make money. Now they want to enter the industry (Libra), but they are not bitcoin and don't have the 'decentralization' feature."

Does not pose a threat in the short term

 

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said on Tuesday that the Facebook Libra project is not a threat at least in the short term.

Dimon said: "Objectively, we have been discussing the blockchain for seven years, but there has been little progress. After three years, we will continue to talk about Libra. I will not spend too much time on this."

Dimon also added that any new efforts must comply with the industry's strict anti-money laundering regulations.

Source: Tencent Technology

(compilation / breeze)

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