Highlights from the Senate hearing with Facebook's David Marcus on the proposed Libra cryptocurrency, and what was left unanswered
’ Adrian Zmudzinski / Cointelegraph : ‘Libra Is so Screwed’ — Should Have Used Bitcoin, Says Samson Mow Martin Young / Bitcoinist.com : Congress to Hold Second Hearing on Libra and Crypto Marko Vidrih / ALTCOIN MAGAZINE : Altcoin News: The Main Theses of the Libra Cryptocurrency Hearing in the US Senate 블록인프 레스 : ‘내가 너를 어떻게 믿니’...페 북 … William M. Peaster / Blockonomi : U.S. Senators Give Bipartisan Grilling to Facebook Over Libra Crypto Teuta Franjkovic / Coinspeaker : ‘I Like Bitcoin,’ Says House GOP Leader McCarthy while Criticizing Facebook's Libra Aislinn Keely / The Block : Libra hasn't yet talked to Swiss data protection regulator Rick D. / NewsBTC : Facebook Says it Will Use Swiss Agency to Oversee its Cryptocurrency's Privacy, But is Yet to Even Contact Them Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg : Libra's Biggest Challenge May Be Facebook's Tarnished Reputation PYMNTS.com : Supposed Swiss Libra Regulator Says Facebook Hasn't Reached Out Matthew De Silva / Quartz : Five major issues raised by Facebook's Libra hearing before Congress Tweets: J.D. Durkin / @jivedurkey : the moment @SenJohnKennedy leaves @facebook's David Marcus speechless 😂 pic.twitter.com/E7iTlEtz4v Nathaniel Popper / @nathanielpopper : A day of hearings for the tech giants begins with Facebook being asked: “Facebook has said ‘Just trust us’ — and every time Americans trust you they seem to get burned.” https://www.nytimes.com/... Linette Lopez / @lopezlinette : “I wouldn't let Facebook water my plants, let alone monitor my banking transactions.” https://www.businessinsider.com/ ... @nytimesbusiness : “Why in the world should Facebook of all companies do this?” asked Senator Brian Schatz. “Maybe before you do a new thing you should make sure you have your own shop fixed.” https://www.nytimes.com/... @nytimes : Lawmakers made it clear at a Senate Banking Committee hearing that they believe the biggest roadblock to Facebook's plan to enter the world of cryptocurrency and global finance is the company's reputation https://www.nytimes.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Update: FB spokesperson confirms they haven't spoken with the FDPIC about Libra. So it's unclear why Marcus said this during his testimony. https://twitter.com/... Owen Williams / @ow : Facebook—we consider everyone™️ https://twitter.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Marcus said it in his testimony today. That was news to Swiss regulators. https://twitter.com/... Josh Constine / @joshconstine : My takeaway from Libra's hearing: Precisely because the public distrusts Facebook, consumers may seek Libra wallet alternatives, pushing them into the hands of scammers https://techcrunch.com/... Shira Ovide / @shiraovide : Facebook basically revamped its vanity in-app payments system, dressed up with a vague white paper with hand-waving about virtual currency, and now is in the absolute muck over this. This is the most Facebook thing that ever Facebook-ed. Matt Stoller / @matthewstoller : Facebook's political problem is that the company obviously knows nothing about banking and monetary policy, and and this was exposed today. Senators defer to the company on technology questions, but not on banking questions. https://twitter.com/... Josh Constine / @joshconstine : .@SenatorSinema brought up my article (!!!) warning how Libra won't vet developers, which could cause a crypto Cambridge Analytica. Fb says it will try to educate users 😳 https://techcrunch.com/... Josh Constine / @joshconstine : The biggest news: Facebook will refuse to embed competing Libra wallets in Messenger & WhatsApp, only its own https://techcrunch.com/... Alex Heath / @alexeheath : Arizona senator brings up the great point that Facebook went back on its promise to not share data from WhatsApp a couple years after it was acquired. FB was fined in the EU for this. What's to keep the same thing from happening with Calibra saying it won't share data now? Rat King / @mikeisaac : senators really playing up the clandestine phrasing of “swiss bank account” Dave Lee / @daveleebbc : Big takeaway here so far: Facebook hopes non-profit Libra platform being open source will deflect from for-profit FB wallet Calibra will have an enormous upper hand on the world's biggest social network. Sen Warner gets this - pressed hard. Rat King / @mikeisaac : the main point Warner hammers home in his Q's is that facebook is a kingmaker — Libra will touch WhatsApp and Messenger from *day one*, tapping into FB's enormous network of 2 billion people to get it a better chance at traction than literally any other cryptocurrency, ever Dave Lee / @daveleebbc : We're now onto how (Ca)Libra will handle theft. Marcus says fb “will do our best” to solve issues around fraud - says the firm is working on building 24-hour customer service in time for Calibra's launch Nathaniel Popper / @nathanielpopper : “Is there anything that elected leaders can say that will convince you and Facebook that it should not launch this currency?” Senator Brown asks. So far the answer is clearly no. Russell Brandom / @russellbrandom : David Marcus defends decision to base the Libra Association in Switzerland: “We chose Switzerland not to evade any responsibilities of oversight but because it is a well established international place” for finance companies. Cites BIS HQ in Geneva. Rat King / @mikeisaac : “Facebook should be treated like the profit seeking entity it is No facebook executives to my knowledge has been harmed by its social experiments.” good morning menlo park! Cecilia Kang / @ceciliakang : Wow- Brown describes Facebook as a “for-profit laboratory” that repeatedly has harmed society. Says it takes a “breathtaking amount of arrogance” for them to think they could replace central banks with their own currency system given terrible track record