Senate Banking Committee Schedules July Hearing on Facebook’s Libra Crypto

The U.S. Senate Committee on on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will hold a hearing on July 16 regarding Facebook’s new cryptocurrency, Libra.

The hearing, “Examining Facebook’s Proposed Digital Currency and Data Privacy Considerations,” comes in the wake of calls from members of Congress to more closely examine Libra and its potential risks. There have even been calls to halt work on the project until hearings are held.

In light of those comments, a Facebook representative said that “we look forward to responding to lawmakers’ questions as this process moves forward.”

The July 16 meeting will be held at 10 a.m. EST, and as of yet, no information about witnesses has been released. The hearing will be broadcast to the public.

It was the Banking Committee that wrote an open letter to Facebook last month seeking answers about its work on Libra, including how it works and to what extent the social media giant has sought input from regulators and market watchdogs.

As of this week, Facebook hadn’t directly responded to that letter, with a representative telling CoinDesk that “we received the letter and are addressing the senators’ questions.”

After today’s hearing news broke, committee member and 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted that “Facebook has too much power and a terrible track record when it comes to protecting our private information. We need to hold them accountable—not give them the chance to access even more user data. #BreakUpBigTech.”

Reporting by Nikhilesh De

US Capitol image via Shutterstock