Consumer Groups and Lawmakers urge Facebook to halt it's development of Libra 'cryptocurrency' immediately.. pt.2

Governmental agencies aren't the only ones up in arms to prevent Facebook's foray into crypto asset space. On Tuesday, 33 US Consumer Watchdog groups sent a letter to government officials and financial regulators urging that Facebook's implementation of Libra be stopped until pressing fundamental questions get answered.

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The ad hoc coalition of Advocacy groups expressed a list of serious concerns it collectively feels need to be addressed before Facebook and Calibra are allowed to continue with Libra cryptocurrency development. A letter sampling some of the concerns was sent to financial regulatory groups including US Securities Exchange Commission; US Federal Trade Commission; Office of the United States Trade Representative; and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The letter was also addressed to Congress directly, as well as Facebook and Calibra itself. The letter states:

"We call on Congress and regulators to impose a moratorium on Facebook’s Libra and related plans until the profound questions raised by the proposal are addressed. "src

Those 'profound questions' are comprised of a long list, but which the article organizes in a subset of categories including:

• Governance
• National sovereignty
• Law enforcement, including tax policy
• Consumer protection
• Privacy
• Competition and systemic risk

The letter, spearheaded by Public Citizen and cosignatories the Economic Policy Institute; and the Center for Digital Democracy, reiterates that the issues brought up are only a small fraction of a growing number of concerns surrounding the project. They go on to conclude:

"We have too much recent experience with insufficiently regulated financial markets spinning out of control to let this happen again. The Facebook proposal must be put on hold until these numerous and fundamental questions are resolved."src

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The progressive right groups aren't the only ones express consternation over Libra. American economist and Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz says, "only a fool would trust Facebook with his or her financial wellbeing." Stiglitz writes:

"In just a few short years, Facebook has earned a level of distrust that took the banking sector much longer to achieve. Time and again, Facebook's leaders, faced with a choice between money and honoring their promises, have grabbed the money. And nothing could be more about money than creating a new currency."src

Stiglitz is far from alone in his opinion, contemporary financial analysts seem to agree. "If Facebook introduces a cryptocurrency that in effect seeks to privatize or displace existing central bank functions, it is inevitable that the company will face a ton of regulatory oversight crashing down on it."

_{The full letter summarized in this article can be found --> here}