Feds skeptical of Facebook’s cryptocurrency

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Facebook wants to get into the money business, announcing last month that it plans to create its own cryptocurrency, but the idea is getting a lot of pushback on Capitol Hill.

“What could possibly go wrong?” a sarcastic Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., asked.

He was among the lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who spent more than two hours at a Tuesday Senate hearing grilling a Facebook executive about the plan. They don’t trust the social media giant to do what’s best for consumers.

“Facebook asks people to trust them with their hard-earned paychecks. It takes a breathtaking amount of arrogance,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said, also calling the venture “delusional.” “Facebook has demonstrated through scandal after scandal that it doesn’t deserve our trust.”

Facebook said its proposed currency, dubbed Libra, would help the more than 1.7 billion people in the world who don’t have bank accounts, but lawmakers said…