Bad news for Mark Zuckerberg's ambitious plan: Mastercard, Visa, Stripe and eBay are leaving the network payments of Facebook pound, according reports, putting Facebook's entry into the encryption market at immediate risk.
The news is coming a few days after PayPal was removed project, followed by several months of scrutiny by global regulators.
Facebook announced the Libra project June of 2019, explaining that it intends to release a digital currency 2020.
Digital currency could be integrated into Facebook's services to provide the necessary tool for all e-commerce transactions on the social network platform and beyond.
At the time, Facebook proudly announced that there were many industry giants backing the project, andeyelike Libra Association based in Geneva, a consortium that would oversee its encryption and development.
Leading members of the consortium were Uber, Lyft, Spotify, Vodafone, Mercado Pago, PayU and others.
But slowly the companies - supporters of the ambitious project started to leave. Of course, all those who left the consortium tried to leave the door open (perhaps for a return if they saw the idea enthusiastically adopted).
"Visa has decided not to join the Libra Association right now," said a Visa company spokesman at ZDNet.
Visa's continued interest in Libra stems from our belief that the networks based on blockchain could be extended for secure digital transactions to a greater number of people and places, especially in emerging and developing markets.
A Stripe spokesman told ZDNet:
Stripe supports projects that aim to make e-commerce more accessible to people around the world, and Libra has this potential, we will keep a close eye on its progress and remain open to working with the Libra Association at a later stage.
While eBay reported:
We respect the vision of the Libra Association. However, eBay has decided not to go as a founding member.
Mastercard has not made any statement at this time.
Here's to mention that after Facebook announced the Libra project, there were a lot of reactions:
- Facebook Libra stop by American Lawmakers
- Facebook Libra: Three questions for Facebook
- Facebook Libra: command to stop the project
- Facebook Libra: France doesn't want it in Europe
- PayPal withdraws from Facebook Libra Association