Why Libra Worries This Physicist-Turned-Congressman

Rep. Bill Foster might be the only member of Congress who writes computer code in his spare time. The holder of a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard, Foster stood out among his fellow representatives during testimony by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month, with questions that revealed a detailed knowledge of cryptocurrency.

The suburban Chicago Democrat zeroed in on what he believes is a critical issue at the center of Facebook’s proposal: whether the underlying code will enable untraceable transactions that help terrorists, human traffickers and other criminals cover their tracks. He says he didn’t get a clear answer from Zuckerberg.