Watch Live: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faces Congress

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying Wednesday to the House Financial Services Committee. He is testifying in favor of the company’s planned cryptocurrency, Libra, and trying to alleviate concerns that it could sidestep regulators. 

• The hearing is scheduled to start at 10 a.m ET. Watch in the video player above. 

Zuckerberg plans to tell members of Congress that Libra won’t launch anywhere in the world unless all U.S. regulators approve, according to prepared remarks that Facebook released Tuesday. This is a stronger statement than Facebook official David Marcus, who leads the Libra project, made in July, when he said Facebook will not offer Libra until it has “fully addressed regulatory concerns and received appropriate approvals.”

Zuckerberg’s statement also says, “we support Libra delaying its launch until it has fully addressed U.S. regulatory concerns.” 

“I believe this is something that needs to get built, but I understand we’re not the ideal messenger right now. We’ve faced a lot of issues over the past few years,” it reads, noting that a digital currency, intended for people who can’t access bank accounts, dovetails with the company’s mission of empowering people.

Libra has faced intense pushback from U.S. and European regulators. The project has lost seven of its original 28 partners in recent weeks, including PayPal, Visa and Mastercard.

Zuckerberg’s testimony will be his first to Congress since 2018.

Meanwhile, the push to break up the company appears to have reached a fever pitch. A probe by state attorneys general to investigate possible antitrust abuses now counts 47 participants, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Tuesday.

Irina Ivanova, Grace Segers and The Associated Press contributed to this report