Part of a hard-hitting Mod Squad of fresh new faces on Capitol Hill, and rolling right off the punches of racist presidential tweets, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is taking no prisoners. The latest victim of AOC's straight-shooting spitfire is Facebook's cypto heads.
The last two days have seen Facebook's cryptocurrency boss, David Marcus, face lawmakers to address widespread and rampant concerns surrounding the feasibility and implementation of Facebook's plans for it's Libra currency.
Libra, not truly a cryptocurrency due to its regulated nature, is a virtual currency that Facebook hopes to augment fiat currencies with, and provide an alternative to high transaction fees. However, it is not very clear as to who will control the currency and in which jurisdiction it can be regulated. This has raised red flags among financial watchdogs and policy makers alike.
To address those concerns, Congress has summoned Facebook representatives to answer questions in public hearings before the House Committee on Financial Services.
Yesterday, Congresswomen Ocasio-Cortez(NY) was given 5 mins for her line of questioning, and her grilling of Mr. Marcus sparked pressure from those who followed and may very well have derailed Facebook's Libra hopes altogether.
The Freshmen Representative from NY launched a series of insightful questioning, leading Marcus straight towards her concerns about the financial reserves which will underpin the digital currency.
Facebook has explained that Libra will be backed 'one for one' with existing stable currencies that will serve as a reserve which will be managed by The Libra Association, which is a consortium of organizations.
However, AOC fired back pointing out asset value of Libra is managed by mostly profit-driven corporations.
"So we are discussing a currency controlled by an undemocratically selected coalition of largely massive corporations."src
She asked Marcus if he felt that currency should be considered a 'public good' but his evasive answer about thinking sovereign currencies should remain sovereign didn't satisfy the Democrat. She pressed if he thought Libra should be a public good and without getting a direct response concluded that she should take that as a "No".
Moving on, AOC recalled Marcus' statement that he would be willing to take his salary in Libra, and questioned the risk of that proposition, mentioning the term 'scrip', a reference to the practice of companies paying their employees in a substitute tender that can only be redeemed at company stores, and often falls victim to price-gouging.
AOC then asked Marcus if he was concerned about that risk? and attempt to set up an inquire of the destabilizing nature of Facebook's history, before running out of time.
[you can watch the whole exchange here]
