Libra’s director, David Marcus, has responded to the letter of request for suspension of Congress by saying that they are taking the time necessary to better prepare the “blockchain” project.
On July 2nd, members of the Congress of the United States of America, and in particular of the Committee on Financial Services, sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, and David Marcus, director of Libra, asking for the immediate suspension of the development of the project.
The response was sent the next day in a letter written by David Marcus to members of the Financial Services Committee who had raised doubts about Libra’s blockchain project.
In this letter, Marcus reassures Financial Services Committee Director Maxine Waters that Libra is taking all the time necessary to do things right and promises to answer the “important questions” that have been asked by policy-makers.
In fact, next week, on July 17th, Marcus will be questioned by the Financial Services Committee of the US Congress during a hearing in which he will be called upon to respond to the doubts raised by Waters.
The letter of request for immediate suspension of the plans to implement Libra’s blockchain project contained a number of objections, including the suspicion that the new Facebook currency could create a new financial system based outside the US and in competition with the US monetary system.
Another critical point is that related to the privacy of users, given that the company now holds a huge power around the world thanks to the services it offers online to billions of users.
In the response letter, Marcus wrote:
“We understand that big ideas take time, that policymakers and others are raising important questions, and that we can’t do this alone. […] We want, and need, governments, central banks, regulators, non-profits, and other stakeholders at the table and value all of the feedback we have received. […] Libra is about a big idea. The goal of the Libra Association is to reduce transaction costs and expand access to the financial system using blockchain technology”.
In addition, David Marcus added that the Libra Association, the non-profit association based in Switzerland that will manage the new cryptocurrency, is gathering questions from those responsible for monetary policy, to which they will give their answers, and that Facebook will be only one of the members of the association so as not to have total control over the digital currency.
