Facebook's CEO argued his cryptocurrency project before Congress on Wednesday. Mark Zuckerberg defended, foot by foot, his cryptocurrency project on Wednesday, during a hearing of more than three hours organized by the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives on libra. Its currency project is supposed to offer a new method of payment outside the traditional banking circuits, to Facebook's estimated 2.7 billion users, making it possible to buy goods or send money as easily as an instant message. No, it does not seek to mint money, a privilege reserved for States, he wanted to reassure : "the objective of Libra is first of all to build a global payment system, more than a currency". It could simply be based on an existing currency, but would be less ambitious than a new currency backed by a basket of currencies. "There are already discussions about the value of building this kind of system from specific sovereign currencies rather than a new currency backed by a basket of currencies," he admitted. He reaffirmed that "libra will be backed mainly by the dollar." Reassuringly, he reiterated that libra, managed by an independent association (composed of companies and non-profit organizations), initially scheduled for spring 2020, but criticized by many regulators and politicians, would not be launched "anywhere in the world until all U.S. regulators approve it." To defend his initiative, he spoke of American outreach: "I believe it will expand America's financial leadership as well as our democratic values and control around the world," he said. He evoked China's digital renminbi project, expected soon, which should allow the yuan to become more international. "If the Chinese system becomes a standard, it will be harder for [the United States] to impose sanctions or protections on different countries around the world," Zuckerberg said. "With the Libra project we want to question the financial system as it exists," Zuckerberg added. Proof of a certain mistrust of the markets, bitcoin gave up 10% on Wednesday, to $ 7,305 in New York, and ether and litecoin, respectively, fell by 11% and 13%. Since mid-September, the price of bitcoin has fallen by nearly 26%. On June 18, the announcement of the libra project had jumped the cryptocurrency market.