Although Facebook is going forward with their cryptocurrency project Libra (although it was delayed several times), some of the project’s key members have continued to leave.
After Mastercard and PayPal withdrew as members of the Libra Association, Vodafone is the latest member to leave Facebook’s cryptocurrency project.
The news comes directly from The Libra Association itself. Some of the financial tech giants of the world such as Visa and Mastercard have decided to leave the project, followed by eBay, Mercado Pago, Booking Holdings and Stripe. The major fear for these players is that there is too much regulatory uncertainty surrounding the project, as governments have expressed concerns how big and influential the currency could get.
As Leaprate reported several times, the Libra Association was established as an independent body in Geneva to overlook Facebook’s plans for the currency and the Calibra digital wallet. The member count was 21.
Uber, Spotify and Vodafone were among the confirmed members and part of the new governance structure of Libra.
After the news came out that Vodafone is leaving, the TMT giant explained that it had left the consortium on friendly terms and had decided to put the allocated funds for Libra to its own proprietary digital payment service called M-Pesa. Vodafone plans to expand M-Pesa beyond the 6 African countries that it currently services.
This is what the head of communications at the Libra Association shared:
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.
On the other hand, a Vodafone spokesperson said that they have decided to leave Libra and that the company is focused on providing financial inclusion and to contribute in that area in the future. In that regard, Vodafone is now concentrated on developing M-Pesa. However, the statement also mentions that the TMT leader will continue to monitor the development of Libra and the possibility of joining again as a member is possible.