Bad news for Mark Zuckerberg's ambitious plan: Mastercard, Visa, Stripe and eBay leave Facebook Libra payment network, according to 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 that time, Facebook proudly announced that there were many large companies in the industry supporting the project, and formed the Geneva-based Libra Association, a consortium that would oversee its encryption and development.
The initial 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 blockchain-based networks could be extended to 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:
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