Vodafone Bails On Libra

Another company has left the Libra Association, a conglomerate of companies meant to help get Facebook’s cryptocurrency off the ground and handle regulatory initiatives and acceptance measures, according to reports Tuesday (Jan. 21). 

The company, Vodafone, is the eighth to leave the association. Previous companies that have left are eBay, Visa, Mastercard, Mercado Pago, Stripe, Booking Holdings and PayPal.

“We can confirm that Vodafone is no longer a member of the Libra Association. Although the makeup of the Association members may change over time, the design of libra’s governance and technology ensures the Libra payment system will remain resilient,” the Libra Association said in a statement, according to CNBC. “The Association is continuing the work to achieve a safe, transparent, and consumer-friendly implementation of the Libra payment system.”

The association members were expected to provide $10 million to help jumpstart Libra. Lyft, Uber, Coinbase and Spotify are still in the association.

Vodafone is going to move resources that were originally intended for Libra to its own payment service, called M-Pesa, which currently serves six African countries.

Many regulators and central banks have expressed concern over the proposed cryptocurrency, with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saying that the currency raises “serious concerns regarding privacy, money laundering, consumer protection, financial stability.”

When eBay dropped out of the association, it said that “We highly respect the vision of the Libra Association; however, eBay has made the decision to not move forward as a founding member. At this time, we are focused on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers.”

Payment company Stripe also shared a similar sentiment when it exited.

“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.”