Facebook's cryptocurrency project Libra could appeal to some progressive lawmakers
U.S. lawmakers called on Facebook (FB) to "immediately cease implementation plans" of its Libra cryptocurrency project in a letter on Tuesday, urging the company to wait until Congress and regulators investigate its risks on the global financial markets and other data security concerns.
Lawmakers will have a chance to grill Facebook about Libra during Congressional hearings scheduled for mid-July. Despite the criticism and skepticism, Facebook may have a compelling argument to make to certain lawmakers that may work in the company’s favor, National Taxpayers Union Senior Fellow Mattie Duppler told Yahoo Finance’s On the Move.
“I think, one of the crucial points that Facebook is trying to make is that they're trying to open up these institutions to people who don't have the ability to access them,” said Suppler. “You know, you've got more smartphones than people in the world, but you still have 2 billion people who are unbanked. That, of course, is an enormous opportunity for Facebook to capitalize on, and certainly that would be a theme that you'd think some of these progressives would really want to start to accept.”
Duppler points out that the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, which penned the letter, is led by Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) but is made up of progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Katie Porter (D-Calif.), who call for income equality and better access to capital.
Facebook launched the Libra project last month, with 27 partners that include Mastercard, Visa, Uber and Spotify. At that time, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote that Libra “would make it easy for everyone to send and receive money just like you use our apps to instantly share messages and photos.”
That point may appeal to some progressives, according to Duppler, but Facebook has a long way to go in terms of addressing and allaying lawmakers’ concerns.
“It's not clear to me, though, that I think politicians are there yet.” Duppler said. “I think they still see Facebook as a hegemon that they have to argue against, that they can't see as a partner in this kind of effort.”
Valentina Caval is a producer on Yahoo Finance’s On the Move.
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