Facebook’s new digital currency, Libra, has the potential to be worse than the September 11 attacks. At least that’s what U.S. Democratic Congressman Dril (sorry, Congressman Brad Sherman) of California said today at a House Committee on Financial Services Hearing in Washington.
Sherman tore into Facebook executive David Marcus and didn’t even bother asking him a question. Instead, he made one of the strangest analogies in Congressional history.
“We’re told by some that innovation is always good. The most innovative thing that happened this century was when Bin Laden came up with the innovative idea of flying two aeroplanes into towers. That’s the most consequential innovation, although this may do more to endanger America than even that,” Sherman said while pantomiming two planes hitting the World Trade Center buildings.
You can watch it for yourself on YouTube.
How could Sherman make such a claim about Libra being potentially worse than terrorism? The Congressman explained that terrorists love cryptocurrencies because they’re largely anonymous, which is actually true. And while there are definitely concerns about Facebook starting its own currency, invoking 9-11 is a bold move, to say the least.
Sherman went on to say that nobody would call it Libra and instead call it Zuck Bucks because, “this is Zuckerberg’s baby,” which will provide privacy protections for, “drug dealers, tax evaders, and sanctions evaders.”
Sherman was quite angry that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t the one sitting in the hearing, which might explain why the Congressman used his time to lecture rather than question the Facebook executive, David Marcus. And Sherman ended his time by saying that Zuckerberg needs to show up to Congress.
“We need Zuckerberg here because we need to tell him that he probably has the power to push this through,” Sherman said. “He’ll throw around tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in Washington. His supporters will get huge Zuck Bucks in U.S. dollars. A hundred lawyers will tell him that what he’s doing is legal and therefore he’s safe.”
“But someone with an understanding of the politics of this country needs to explain to Mr. Zuckerberg that if cryptocurrency is used to finance the next horrific terrorist attack against Americans, a hundred lawyers standing in a row, charging $2000 an hour are not gonna protect his rear end from the wrath of the American people.”
Yikes.