The cryptocurrency project of Facebook, Libra, has come a long way. The most important update is that the tech giant will not be launching the project until all regulatory “clearance” is over. With that, the project is currently delayed for at least 2020. However, as regulatory concerns grew stronger, some of the founding members of the project left Facebook. One example is Mastercard, which has now explained the exact reasons why it left Libra.
The reason was the fact that there was a discrepancy between the digital coin and the norms for payment regulations. The information comes from Ari Sarker, co-president at Mastercard Asia Pacific.
According to Mr. Sarker, going into the project, Mastercard realized its obligations when it came to regulated payment system rules. However, what became a problem for the company is that “some basic principles of PM (or project management) were not properly respected”.
In addition, Mastercard is in the business of offering new, attractive and innovative solutions to clients, solutions that respond to the ever changing world. While Mastercard’s participation in Libra was certainly in the category of meeting growing clients’ needs, the financial services company decided to focus on other ventures instead.
In this regard, Mastercard has now introduced the so called FinTech Express platform – a project that aims to expand Mastercard’s collaboration with fintech companies. Moreover, the R3 consortium and Mastercard are developing a payment system based on the blockchain Corda. As press reports, Mastercard may even be working on its very own crypto wallet.
Another member that has left the Libra project is PayPal. As Leaprate recently reported, PayPayl reportedly left because of increased regulatory “heat” around major jurisdictions.