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Facebook's new cryptocurrency Libra faces US government backlash
- Congress begins two days of hearings on Tuesday on the currency planned by Facebook, starting with the Senate Banking Committee
- Meanwhile, a house judiciary subcommittee will extend its bipartisan investigation of the market power of Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple
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Facebook’s ambitious plan to create a financial ecosystem based on a digital currency faces questions from lawmakers, as it is overshadowed by negative comments from US President Donald Trump, his treasury secretary and the head of the Federal Reserve.
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Congress begins two days of hearings on Tuesday on the currency planned by Facebook, to be called Libra, starting with the Senate Banking Committee. Meanwhile, a house judiciary subcommittee will extend its bipartisan investigation of the market power of Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple.
Trump tweeted last week that the new currency, Libra, “will have little standing or dependability.” Both Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Fed Chair Jerome Powell have expressed serious concerns recently that Libra could be used for illicit activity.
The Treasury Department has “very serious concerns that Libra could be misused by money launderers and terrorist financiers,” Mnuchin told reporters at the White House on Monday. “This is indeed a national security issue.”
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Facebook has “a lot of work to do before we get to the point where we’re comfortable with it,” Mnuchin said.
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