US and Swiss Regulators to Talk ‘Complicated’ Libra Subject This Week
Six members of the American House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee are traveling to Switzerland this week for talks on Facebook’s forthcoming Libra token and “other cryptocurrency projects.”
The group will meet Swiss regulators later this week, and will be led by committee chairwoman Maxine Waters – who has been vocal in her past calls on Facebook to stop developments on Libra while lawmakers evaluate the project’s risk.
The committee has previously expressed concerns about the fact that Facebook plans to operate Libra from Switzerland, famously one of the most pro-cryptocurrency nations in the world.
Per a report from media outlet NZZ, the committee member will meet the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner Adrian Lobsiger to conduct talks. Lobsiger is the country’s chief data protection authority, with a remit to rule on both federal and private matters.
The commissioner’s offices confirmed the visit, stating, per NZZ,
“Facebook’s Libra project and those of other companies, will be at the center of the talks.”
Lobsiger has also asked Facebook for more details about Libra, and is still waiting to hear answers to a number of questions on the project.
The committee has repeatedly called Facebook’s handling of private data into question in its critiques of Libra, and appears to be concerned that the new digital token could compromise sensitive user information.
Waters and the commission members are also set to visit the Bundeshaus, the country’s parliament.
The head of the Swiss-United States parliamentary association Christa Markwalder stated,
“[The meeting] will give us an opportunity to share opinions about cryptocurrencies with our American counterparts. It’s a complicated subject, and we have much to learn from each other.”
