Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency
Swiss privacy watchdog awaits more details on Libra
Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project has not responded to a request for information by Switzerland’s data privacy regulator, Reuters has reported.
The Libra project is overseen by Libra Association, a consortium comprised of over 20 companies including Visa, Mastercard, Vodafone and Facebook’s newly found blockchain subsidiary Calibra. The consortium is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Because of that, Facebook’s blockchain chief David Marcus last week told members of the US Senate Banking Committee that he expected the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) to be Libra’s privacy regulator.
The FDPIC revealed yesterday that it had sent a letter to the Libra Association on July 17, asking for more details on the project, but it hadn’t received an answer yet.
“The FDPIC stated in its letter that as it had not received any indication on what personal data may be processed, the Libra Association should inform it of the current status of the project so that the FDPIC could assess the extent to which its advisory competences and supervisory powers would apply,” the regulator said, as quoted by Reuters.
“The FDPIC is currently waiting for the Libra Association to respond to (its) letter of 17 July 2019 and set out their official position,” it added.
Facebook’s proposed digital currency has prompted regulators and policy makers around the world to voice serious concerns over the project’s impact on a number of areas, including privacy. In the UK, the chair of the House of Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Damian Collins, expressed doubt over Facebook’s ability to safeguard the personal financial details of billions of users, pointing to Facebook’s recent string of privacy scandals
At a US House hearing that came a day after the aforementioned Senate hearing, Marcus said that Facebook was Facebook was “fully committed to working with regulators” in the US and around the world to address the existing concerns over Libra.
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