Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-NY) speaks during Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony in a House Financial Services Committee hearing on “Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy” in Washington, July 10, 2019.
Erin Scott | Reuters
Facebook’s crypto chief David Marcus faced skepticism from lawmakers at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on its plans for a digital currency called Libra.
“This is not Silicon Valley,” Rep. Nydia Velasquez (D-NY) told the head of Facebook’s new subsidiary, Calibra. “You cannot work out problems as you go.”
Three representatives, including Velasquez, Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) asked Marcus if he would commit to refraining from moving forward with Libra until policymakers put appropriate regulations in place.
Clarifying his response, Marcus told Waters, “I committed to waiting for us to have all the appropriate regulatory approvals and have addressed all concerns before moving forward.”
“That’s not a commitment,” Waters said.
Maloney asked if Marcus would commit to a pilot program to launch Libra to 1 million users with regulatory oversight. Marcus reiterated that Facebook purposely came out with this plan and a white paper prior to Libra’s full release in order to go through regulators.
“I don’t think you should launch Libra at all because the creation of a new currency is a core government function,” Maloney said. “But at the very least you should agree to do this small pilot program first.”
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
WATCH: How Facebook makes money by targeting ads directly to you
