The Treasury Secretary "not at ease" with Facebook's cryptocurrency as bipartisan hostility grows

Facebook's plan to launch its Libra cryptocurrency is facing considerable obstacles from federal officials, who have worried about the possibility that it will be used to circumvent anti-money laundering rules. fund other illegal activities.

House Democrats sitting on the House's Financial Services Committee have already circulated a bill to prevent US-based technology companies generating $ 25 billion in annual revenues from issuing digital currencies and imposing a fine up to $ 1 million a day. The bill, which would effectively ban Facebook from behaving like a financial institution, called "Law prohibiting major technologies to finance".

As many outlets have pointed out, the bill states: "A large platform utility can not create, maintain, or exploit a digital asset that is intended to be widely used as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, store of value, etc. or any other similar function as defined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. "

The Facebook project on Libra is shaking up everywhere, with the Fed's presidency at the table of contents …

The Libra cryptocurrency project, already disrupted, Facebook, which has already met …

Read more Lily

Democrats are not alone in opposing Facebook's plans. Last week, President Trump said that he was not a fan either, tweeting "I am not a fan of Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is very volatile and based on a lack of air," he said. .

At a press conference held on Monday, Trump's Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described the problem as a national security issue and said he "did not feel comfortable" with the Facebook plan today. The secretary added that his department had expressed "very serious concerns" that Libra could be used to perpetrate money laundering and terrorist financing crimes.

"Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have been exploited to support billions of dollars of illegal activities, such as cybercrime, tax evasion, extortion, ransomware, illicit drugs and the trafficking of human beings, "said Mnuchin. "Many players have tried to use cryptocurrency to fund their perverse behavior."

David Marcus, Facebook's top official responsible for overseeing the Libra project, is expected to testify Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

In his prepared remarks, which Facebook released Monday, Marcus said that Libra – and Facebook's digital wallet, called Calibra – would be in full compliance with regulations set by the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. (FinCEN) and will comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and other federal laws.

"The status quo does not work for many; it is too expensive for people around the world to use and transfer their money, "he said. "We believe that Libra can offer a more effective, less expensive and safer alternative." He also says that he expects the Libra to be regulated by the Federal Data Protection Commissioner and to ensure that the Libra is regulated. information.

Libra is run by a non-profit organization based in Geneva, which has 28 founding member companies, including Facebook. Others include Ebay, Uber, Lyft, Visa, Paypal and Mastercard. But according to the New York Times, even Facebook's high-profile partners have doubts about the viability of Libra and many of them are as curious as we are to know how all this will unfold.