Cryptocurrency has been taking a lot of flack as of late from persons in the political spectrum. President Donald Trump, for example, recently issued a tweetstorm regarding how he doesn’t care for bitcoin or other digital coins, saying they “aren’t real money.”
Do Bitcoin and Libra Really Deserve All the Hate?
In addition, several members of Congress are now grilling David Marcus over Facebook’s plans regarding the new cryptocurrency Libra, which they claim is “dangerous” and out of line.
Despite all the negative hoopla, there are a few serving in American government that believe specific cryptocurrencies deserve their shot. Among them is Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who recently stated that he “likes bitcoin,” citing its decentralized nature as a huge benefit for users.
He says that all decentralized coins are likely to provide their users with more security, which is exactly why he has such a huge problem with Libra. As it stands, Libra is controlled by several financial conglomerates, including PayPal, Visa and Mastercard. All three companies have contributed finances, time and energy to the project, and thus have a say in what it’s ideals and goals should be.
McCarthy isn’t a fan of this setup. He says it provides the companies with ways to ultimately control Libra users and make illicit decisions regarding what can and should be done with their data. He states:
When I’m on Facebook, I’m not the customer. I’m the product. Facebook is free because they sell your data to make money. Now, they want to get into business, and they’re not bitcoin… They’re not decentralized… I want to see decentralization because Libra concerns me that they’re going to control the market.
Despite McCarthy’s comments and much of Congress attacking Libra at press time, some members of America’s political spectrum don’t think Libra deserves all the flack it’s getting. One of those individuals is Republican Senator Pat Toomey. He’s asking that Congress examine Libra through the appropriate lens and give it a chance. Toomey fears that efforts against Libra could potentially lead to a lack of innovation in America’s financial sector.
He comments:
I don’t want to presume in advance that we’ve got to prevent the development of upcoming innovation. Maybe there could be some innovation in this space that would provide security and that would dramatically lower the cost of transactions.
Maybe We Should Ease Up a Bit…
Toomey isn’t about just opening the door to Facebook, however. He does have a few questions for the company, such as what its real motivation is. He says the company has never expressed interest in the financial market before, and he wonders why it’s now so eager to revamp itself as a banking platform:
It sounds like they’re suggesting it’s not about getting data. If that’s not the real motivator here, what is? That’s a real question for me.