The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will hold a hearing on July 16 regarding Facebookâs new cryptocurrency, Libra.
The hearing, âExamining Facebookâs Proposed Digital Currency and Data Privacy Considerations,â 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 âwe look forward to responding to lawmakersâ questions as this process moves forward.â
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 hadnât directly responded to that letter, with a representative telling CoinDesk that âwe received the letter and are addressing the senatorsâ questions.â
After todayâs hearing news broke, committee member and 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted that âFacebook has too much power and a terrible track record when it comes to protecting our private information. We need to hold them accountableânot give them the chance to access even more user data. #BreakUpBigTech.â
U.S. Capitol image via Shutterstock