US lawmakers to question Facebook on Libra

The first of two Congressional hearings on Facebook's cryptocurrency Libra will be held today. Facebook executive David Marcus will testify before the Senate banking committee today and the House Financial Services committee on Wednesday, according to a report by CNN.

The Senate hearing will likely focus on data privacy concerns with Libra, while Marcus will attempt to explain how the cryptocurrency works and would protect user's data.

Democratic senators and representatives have argued that Libra will make Facebook too powerful or would compromise the Fed's ability to handle monetary policy.

"They're motivated by one thing: surely their own bottom line," Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, said last week. "Allowing Big Tech companies to take over the payment system or position themselves to influence monetary policy would be a huge mistake."

Marcus, however has said that the Libra Association, "has no intention of competing with any soverign currencies or entering the monetary policy area."