Various large parties that were involved in the Facebook crypto currency are withdrawing from the project. This includes credit card companies Mastercard and Visa. This is reported by the Bloomberg news agency. It is a big disappointment for libra, because companies such as Visa and Mastercard play an important role in payment transactions in America and Europe.
Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and Mercado Pago no longer participate. Payment company Paypal already left the project last week. This means that no American payment processor is participating in Facebook’s new crypto currency.
The massive exodus of founders comes the day before an important libra meeting. There, the original members of the Libra Association sign an official Charter, which states their responsibilities and duties. It is therefore not surprising that parties that are in doubt are leaving right now.
Skepticism and warnings
The payment companies are less enthusiastic about libra, mainly due to the response of regulators. They have responded with a lot of skepticism to Facebook’s crypto currency. And for payment companies, a good relationship with regulators is simply important.
Moreover, initiator Facebook warned that ‘libra and related products and services’ might not arrive on time.
Visa continues to follow the project, but believes that the Libra Association must first demonstrate that the project can comply with official rules.
eBay writes: “We respect project libra, but we decide that we no longer want to be involved in its creation. At the moment, our focus is on our own payment project.”
Facebook is the initiator of libra, but has no complete control over the currency. As soon as the coin goes live, Facebook has just as much say as the other founders of The Libra Association.
“Libra is not in danger”
The project is not in danger due to the departure of Visa, Mastercard and other large parties, explains The Libra Association.
“The composition of the members can change. We are flexible thanks to the design and open structure of the project. We look forward to the three-day meeting where we will announce the first official members of the Libra Association.”
Parties that still participate include Uber, Vodafone and Spotify.
Oliver I. Kjeldsen has a corporate finance and extensive expertise in company audit. He grants us amazing insights on taxation, international affairs and friendly advice on nearly any topic of interest. His email is oliver.kjeldsen@economicinform.com
