TL;DR: The embattled Facebook Coin Libra project is getting yet another hearing, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg is compelled to Washington DC this week. He’ll testify in front of the US House Financial Services Committee and Chair Maxine Waters, a congresswoman increasingly outspoken about her skepticism of cryptocurrency in general and Libra in particular. This could be a final stand for ZuckCoin.

Mr. Zuckerberg Heads to Washington, Again

The last time Facebook lackeys appeared before US lawmakers, it was newly crowned Libra project head David A. Marcus back in mid-July who did his dancing monkey routine to Zuckerberg’s organ grinder, first in front of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The next day, Marcus landed in the crosshairs of Waters.

It was at that second appearance, testifying before the same committee Zuckerberg will confront on 23 October 2019, Wednesday, 10am EST, the infamous “shitcoin” reference was said aloud by Congressman Warren Davidson from Ohio. Davidson has since gone on to a kind of crypto celebrity within the ecosystem, and has been quoted just days ago as urging Facebook to drop Libra altogether and simply use bitcoin. (Enthusiasts would later note the social media giant had indeed considered BTC, but ultimately decided against it due to its not being a medium-of-exchange).

And while Marcus was flanked by assorted experts to help him deflect, Zuckerberg’s testimony will be entirely solo. An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors is the follow-up to Waters’ letter directly to the social network’s executive team, demanding it “halt” all plans for Libra. Around the same time, Waters’ political rival President Trump tweeted his disapproval as well, explaining, “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,” he noted.

Hating Crypto and Facebook Coin Libra is Bipartisan

Waters and her colleagues have been pushing the Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act, which would effectively forbid “large platform utilities, like Facebook, from becoming chartered, licensed or registered as a U.S. financial institution (e.g. like taxpayer-backed banks, investment funds, and stock exchanges) or otherwise becoming affiliated with such financial institutions. The bill also prohibits large platform utilities from establishing, maintaining, or operating 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 Federal Reserve.”

Such lawmaker activity is a rare score for those insisting upon more bipartisan cooperation among the two major US political parties, especially in the current atmosphere of never-ending partisan investigations and Impeachment inquiries. Zuckerberg’s last attempt to address US lawmakers, prior to Libra’s formal announcement, was back in early April, when he testified in front of the US Senate. It was panned as an evasive performance, with Zuckerberg coming across as wooden, stilted, canned — a source of constant memes.

Since his appearance, the Facebook founder has been in a public relations nightmare, trying to pull off a gigantic digital coin platform to mesh with the platform’s 2 billion users. Nearly every First World government has either taken a direct opposing stance against Libra or is doing so through proxies at the international level. A great many of the Libra Association partners have backed out completely due to fear of regulators’ reprisals. Indeed, last week, US senators fired off letters to Stripe, Mastercard, and Visa, warning the companies their businesses would be under greater scrutiny if they were considered in league with Libra.

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DISCLOSURE: The author holds cryptocurrency as part of his financial portfolio, including BCH.