Facebook faces a rough road ahead with Libra, but defections by high-profile partners are still unlikely to spell the end for the digital currency.
On Friday, Visa and MasterCard announced their departures from the Libra project, as did e-commerce giant eBay and payments startup Stripe. Last week, PayPal became the first major company to drop out of Libra. The exodus comes amid growing — not to mention stronger-than-anticipated — regulatory pushback against Libra in the U.S. and elsewhere.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will appear before Congress later this month to talk about the company's plans for Libra. Rep.
Litan said Facebook can still easily launch Libra in countries with no pushback, of which there are plenty. She also dismissed the idea that Facebook needs partner companies such as MasterCard or Visa in order to keep Libra afloat. In the U.S., the head of the House Financial Services Committee wants Facebook to suspend plans for a new currency until Congress and regulators are able to study it more closely.
That appears to be part of the reason Facebook created a nonprofit oversight association to govern Libra. It also created a subsidiary, Calibra, to work on the technology, separately from its main social media business. Facebook said people can keep their individual transactions from appearing on the blockchain by using Calibra's wallet app, though in that case, Calibra itself would have people's data.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency project suffers massive blow as MasterCard, Ebay, and Stripe withdrawBREAKING: The future of Facebook's cryptocurrency project is in jeopardy as Mercado Pago joins Visa, MasterCard, eBay, Stripe, and PayPal in departing Libra
Read more »
Facebook's libra cryptocurrency coalition is falling apart as eBay, Visa, Mastercard and Stripe jump shipThe news comes one week after PayPal announced its withdrawal as government regulators continue to scrutinize the plans.
Read more »
Facebook's Libra project loses EBay, Stripe, Mastercard and VisaEBay, Stripe, Mastercard and Visa followed PayPal in abandoning Libra, underscoring concerns that the Facebook-led cryptocurrency project won’t pass legal muster.
Read more »
Blackouts, China pressure and Facebook's libra unravels: What happened in Silicon Valley this weekMuch of the Bay Area lost power, a big crypto project lost its mojo and big companies lost the meaning of free speech.
Read more »