Through two days of hearings on the Hill and many, many questions, Democratic lawmakers came up with a number of ways to describe Libra, some of them outrageous, few of them flattering. Here are some of those moments from the hearings in the House and Senate:
- Sherrod Brown called Libra "Monopoly money" and said it’s “delusional” to ask people to trust Facebook with their money
- Katie Porter said Libra reminded her of "wildcat banks"
- Bill Foster, worried about bugs and hackers, said Libra "will be an enormously fat target."
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez compared Libra to scrip, the old “company store” currency
- Brad Sherman said Libra might do more to harm the American people than 9/11
- Maxine Waters asked why lawmakers should trust Facebook and compared the social network’s previous breaches to events at Wells Fargo and Equifax
- Mark Warner asked whether Libra is a manifestation of the "catch-and-kill" approach Facebook has taken to block competition
- Michael San Nicolas called the Libra association a "cabal"
And then there was David Marcus himself, who said that Libra will serve the un- and under-banked, but declined to say it will provide banking services.
It’s a payment service, he said.
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