2019 has been an excellent year for Bitcoin (BTC) after the poor year in 2018 had instigated many to write off the cryptocurrency, and by extension, the crypto space altogether. The cryptocurrency went on a highly impressive run this year and almost replicated the sort of rally that it had enjoyed back in 2017.

However, the past few weeks have not been particularly great for a variety of reasons, but the biggest issue is the one related to Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra. The company’s plans to launch its own cryptocurrency at some point next year was initially welcomed by the crypto space, but since then, things have not quite worked as well as one would have thought.

Libra Faces Criticism

Over the past week, Libra has come under attacks from some of the most influential figures in the global financial elite, and that has resulted in sustained bear tendencies in the market. The price of Bitcoin dropped as well, along with the prices of all the altcoins. Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve, spoke about his reservations about it and so did the United States President, Donald Trump. Bitcoin has fallen from its highs of $13,000 to levels below $10,000 today, and experts believe that the rise in price is going to be tied to Facebook’s Congress hearings that are going to end on Wednesday.

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It has been revealed that on Wednesday, David Marcus, the head of the Libra project at Facebook, is going to be grilled by the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, and the following day, he will need to field questions from the House Financial Services Committee. Experts believe that the doubts and uncertainties over the future of Libra are weighing heavily on the price of Bitcoin. If Facebook’s cryptocurrency manages to come out of these hearings without a lot of damage, then there is hope that Bitcoin could rise in price again.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is looking very weak and now down 11% at $9,680.