Vodafone has become the latest company to leave Facebook’s digital currency project, Libra following in the list of departing of backers including PayPal and MasterCard amid regulatory inspection.
Facebook announced in June last year that, it would launch digital currency in partnership with the other members of the association. But in October, the project ran into trouble as the world’s biggest economies warned cryptocurrencies such as Libra pose risk to the global financial system.
“We have said from the outset that Vodafone desires to make a genuine contribution to extending financial inclusion. We have said from the outset that Vodafone desires to make a genuine contribution to extending financial inclusion,” said Vodafone’s spokesperson.
Dante Disparte, head of policy and communications for the Libra Association, said: “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.”
Payment giants MasterCard and Visa pulled out of the Libra Project in October, PayPal and eBay have also withdrawn from the scheme, which is backed by ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft.
With the exits, Switzerland-based Libra has payment gateway PayU, cab-hailing service Uber, digital wallet Calibra, cryptocurrency startup Coinbase, and music streaming giant Spotify, venture capital firm Ribbit Capital and a few others are left as partners. The list of 29 partners has been reduced to 21 in under a year.
Facebook is looking to launch the first version of Libra this year, but with the departure of many launch partners, the future of this project is looking quite grim.
