{"id":422248,"date":"2021-12-07T17:09:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T17:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=1b3111454e8311c2c523cd7130fc9d1d"},"modified":"2021-12-07T17:09:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T17:09:34","slug":"watchdogs-urge-doj-to-investigate-legality-of-facebooks-cryptocurrency-venture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/12\/07\/watchdogs-urge-doj-to-investigate-legality-of-facebooks-cryptocurrency-venture\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchdogs Urge DOJ to Investigate Legality of Facebook\u2019s Cryptocurrency Venture"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook<\/a>

Financial industry watchdogs are asking federal officials to attempt to stop the cryptocurrency pilot program launched by Facebook, noting that the U.S. government has the power to criminally prosecute executives for operating the venture.<\/p>\n

The Open Markets Institute sent a letter on November 23<\/a> to numerous regulatory agencies and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), saying the omnipresent tech conglomerate may be \u201cin the illegal business of receiving deposits without a bank charter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are several legal and regulatory implications for Facebook\u2019s pilot that warrant particular attention by the agencies,\u201d the Open Markets Institute letter stated.<\/p>\n

Other financial industry analysts share the Open Markets Institute\u2019s opinion. Americans for Financial Reform and Demand Progress issued a joint statement in response to the pilot, urging<\/a> \u201crelevant regulators and lawmakers with jurisdiction over banking, consumer protection, and antitrust to intervene to put this project on hold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facebook has not responded to a request from Truthout<\/em> for comments on the claim that it might be illegally taking bank deposits.<\/p>\n

Financial institutions in the United States that seek to operate as a bank by lending money and accepting deposits \u2014 the latter of which Facebook’s pilot appears to be doing \u2014 must first<\/a> have a bank charter approved by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC is one of the country’s federal bank regulators and an agency within the Department of Treasury. Bank charters outline how firms will operate<\/a> as a bank, and include plans to comply<\/a> with safety and soundness regulations.<\/p>\n

The Open Markets Institute letter also noted that regulators recently said so-called stablecoins<\/a>, the type of cryptocurrency at the heart of the Facebook pilot, should be regulated like banks.<\/p>\n

Cryptocurrencies consist of publicly available records that demonstrate an entity’s ownership of tokens by using public databases to cryptographically link the tokens to the digital wallet of their owner and past transactions. The exchange-value of many cryptocurrencies fluctuate wildly: In the past month alone, Bitcoin has lost some 20 percent of its value, but is still worth 35 percent more than it was six months ago. Stablecoins, on the other hand, are marketed as being pegged to the value of another asset, like the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n