According to reports, Mastercard, Visa, eBay, and Stripe have backed out of Facebook’s Libra payments network putting Facebook’s formidable efforts in peril. The news comes just days after when PayPal backed out of the project and followed months of scrutiny from regulators worldwide.
Facebook’s arranged to take over the world of cryptocurrency and online payments have not had the foremost auspicious start. Enter Libra, a cryptocurrency project that was declared back in June. Facebook said the digital coin, due to debut in 2020, will integrate with Facebook services and will provide the asset required for e-commerce transactions on its platform and beyond.
Facebook proclaimed that several major backers were supporting the project and would form the Geneva-based Libra Association, a consortium to oversee the cryptocurrency and its underlying blockchain’s development. Other initial members of the consortium included Uber, Lyft, Spotify, Vodafone, Mercado Pago, PayU and others.
Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., Stripe Inc., and eBay Inc. said Friday they were withdrawing from the coalition of companies that had originally signed on to help launch the libra cryptocurrency. The loss of four of the largest payments companies in the world leaves Facebook without much of the muscle it assembled for libra. The project now mostly hinges on smaller payments companies, telecommunications providers, venture-capital firms, e-commerce merchants and nonprofits.
