Congress Members Draft ‘Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance’ Bill to Stop Companies Like Facebook’s Libra

A new draft bill titled “Keep Big Tech out of Finance” has been shared on social media apparently being drafted by members of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. As the title suggests, it seems that there are some congress members that are not open to welcome large technology firms to the financial world.

Congress Members Draft Bill Against Fintech Companies

A new draft related to tech companies entering the financial world has been shared on social media and was apparently proposed by congress members. As reported by The Block, the bill wants to prevent tech firms from becoming financial institutions. This comes after the announcement made by Facebook about its virtual currency Libra.

In addition to restricting tech companies from entering the financial market, the new bill wants to prohibit companies from establishing, maintaining or operating digital assets that could be used as a medium of exchange, unit of account or as a store of value.

The document released reads as follows:

“A large platform utility may not establish, maintain, or operate a digital asset that is intended to be widely used as medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value, or any other similar function, as defined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.”

The Senate Banking Committee is going to have a hearing on July 16 about Libra, Facebook’s recently released virtual currency. The goal is to receive more information from Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook and David Marcus, the head of the Libra project.

The blockchain project presented by Facebook has been criticized by many individuals in the past few weeks. For example, the chair of the Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters initiated these hearings about Libra on June 18.

A few days ago, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that Facebook is trying to become a bank and if they want to do so they will have to become subject to banking regulations.

….Similarly, Facebook Libra’s “virtual currency” will have little standing or dependability. If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019