Swiss Privacy Group Still Waiting To Hear From Facebook On Libra

The Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) said it still hasn’t heard from Facebook regarding its supposed oversight of Libra, the social media giant’s proposed cryptocurrency. 

The FDPIC said it is still waiting to hear back after it wrote a letter on July 17 asking for more details about the project, Reuters is reporting. The organization said the information is crucial if it’s going to figure out how to manage the oversight of the currency. 

“The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner has noted the remarks made by Mr. David Marcus at his hearing before a U.S. Senate committee,” the watchdog said in a statement. “The FDPIC stated in his letter that as he had not received any indication on what personal data may be processed, the Libra Association should inform him of the current status of the project so that he could assess the extent to which his advisory competences and supervisory powers would apply.”

Marcus is the head of the project, as well as the company’s blockchain initiatives, and he said at a July 16 Senate hearing that the FDPIC commissioner would be Libra’s regulator because the currency would be housed in Geneva. 

Libra has already faced stiff scrutiny from regulators and policymakers all over the world. Both U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell have expressed “serious concerns” about the proposed cryptocurrency, citing issues related to money laundering, stability and regulation.

Many in the Senate Banking Committee talked about privacy concerns as well.

Marcus said the FDPIC would handle privacy concerns, and that the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority (FINMA) would regulate it financially. FINMA told CNBC that it had been in contact with people from the Libra project.

Marcus also said the Libra Association was going to be headquartered in Switzerland “not to evade any responsibilities of oversight,” but because that’s where other international financial groups are headquartered, like the Bank for International Settlements.