Fed chair Jerome Powell says concerns about Facebook's Libra include 'money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability'
Facebook is facing a growing chorus of doubts about its new Libra cryptocurrency project from authorities around the world, before two congressional hearings on the initiative next week.
On Wednesday, the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, said Libra raised a host of “serious concerns” around “money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability.”
“I just think it cannot go forward without there being broad satisfaction with the way the company has addressed money laundering” and other issues, Powell said as he testified before the House Financial Services Committee.
Powell is the latest central banker to express skepticism about Libra, which Facebook announced last month. Central bankers from Britain, France, the European Central Bank, Singapore and China have all voiced concerns. Separately, more than a week ago, five top Democrats on the Financial Services Committee wrote a letter to the social network calling on it to “immediately cease implementation plans” for Libra until lawmaker questions were answered.
The scrutiny is set to intensify when the Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on Libra on Tuesday. The House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to hold a separate hearing about the project a day later.
The top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, sent a letter on Wednesday to Powell and others at the Fed, asking the central bank to protect consumers and the economy from “Facebook’s Monopoly Money.”
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