Mastercard, Stripe, eBay and Visa have all dropped out of Facebook’s Libra Association. The departures follow on the heels of PayPal’s exit a week ago, according to a report by CNBC.
“We highly respect the vision of the Libra Association; however, eBay has made the decision to not move forward as a founding member,” an eBay spokesperson said. “At this time, we are focused on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers.”
The original Libra Association had 28 members, but now it’s down by four. Support in the association seems to be getting less and less plentiful as countries and regulators across the globe have been scrutinizing the cryptocurrency, with France and Germany stating plainly that they will not support it.
“Stripe is supportive of projects that aim to make online commerce more accessible for people around the world. Libra has this potential,” a Stripe spokesperson said. “We will follow its progress closely and remain open to working with the Libra Association at a later stage.”
The association said it will soldier forward.
“We are focused on moving forward and continuing to build a strong association of some of the world’s leading enterprises, social impact organizations and other stakeholders to achieve a safe, transparent, and consumer-friendly implementation of a global payment system that breaks down financial barriers for billions of people,” policy and communication head Dante Disparte said. “We look forward to the inaugural Libra Association Council meeting in just 3 days and announcing the initial members of the Libra Association.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is due to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee later this month. David Marcus, the former president of PayPal and current leader of the Libra project, previously testified before the committee.
Chairwoman Maxine Waters asked Marcus at the time whether he would hold off on releasing Libra until the proper regulations were in place. Waters said that Marcus did not give her an affirmative answer.
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