Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, is scheduled to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee later this month in what is expected to be a thorough grilling regarding Facebook’s stablecoin Libra and Facebook’s operations in general.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Zuckerberg will testify before the Committee at an October 23 hearing. Zuckerberg will be the sole witness at the hearing, which is entitled, “An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors.”
The Hearing comes after several prior Hearings where Libra representative and Calibra CEO David Marcus attempted to defend Facebook’s announced stablecoin. Chair Waters and other Committee members sent a letter to Facebook this past July demanding a moratorium on the issuance of Libra.
The Committee has also discussed legislation dubbed the “Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act.”
The draft legislation would potentially prohibit large platform utilities, like Facebook, from becoming chartered, licensed or registered as a U.S. financial institution. Many big tech firms are already providing some bank-like services such as payments as the need for banks diminishes in a world dominated by Fintech.
Meanwhile, the Libra Association took a hit when PayPal did not show up at a scheduled meeting in Switzerland announcing it had exited the consortium. It has been rumored that other founding members are getting cold feet as well.
The Hearing will be live-streamed on the Committee website:
WHO: Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and CEO, Facebook
WHAT: Full Committee hearing entitled, “An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors.”
WHEN: Wednesday, October 23, 2019 at 10:00AM (EDT)
WHERE: 2128 Rayburn House Office Building