PayPal has decided to withdraw from the Libra Association, a non-profit organization made up of 28 companies and formed on June of 2019 to oversee the emergence of the upcoming cryptocurrency but also to make it available to consumers.
The company did not provide any specific reason for its withdrawal from the Libra project. But in a statement published by TheVerge, it says:
We continue to support the Libra Association and look forward to ongoing dialogue on new ways of working together in the future. Facebook is a long-term and valued strategic partner of PayPal and we will continue to partner and support the company.
However, an article that posted yesterday η Financial Times, reported that PayPal began to walk away from the project due to increasing regulatory scrutiny. The company said it would not attend a meeting in Washington, and the FT reports that at least one of PayPal's primary concerns was the lack of attention Facebook executives seem to be showing to the significant backlash over Libra. Another unanswered question for Paypal seems to be how the platform will manage to combat money laundering.
In a statement posted by TheVerge, Dante Disparte, head of policy and communications at Libra Association, reaffirmed the nonprofit's commitment to "create a comprehensive payment network" by criticizing PayPal for not having the "strength" to do so. insists on something as difficult and demanding as the Libra project.
"It takes courage and vigor to make an effort as ambitious as the Libra project," says Disparte.
The taxiδι θα είναι μακρύ και δύσκολο. Ο τύπος της αλλαγής που θα αναδιαμορφώσει το χρηματοπιστωτικό σύστημα θα πρέπει να στραφεί προς τους people and not in the institutions that serve them and this will be difficult. Commitment to this mission is more important to us than anything else. So it is better to know from now who is not committed.
The loss of PayPal doesn't necessarily signal the dissolution of Libra, but either way the company was a major economic player alongside existing member companies such as Mastercard and Visa, of the Libra Association.
The loss of PayPal may not be a worrying sign of project progress, but the Wall Street Journal Reported also earlier this week that both Mastercard and Visa, as well as Stripe's digital payment platform, were considering withdrawing from the Libra Association with similar concerns about money laundering from illegal activities.