Facebook’s bid to launch an alternative digital currency, called Libra, has gotten much tougher.Big partners announced by Facebook have just dropped out.That includes credit card giants Visa and MasterCard , e-commerce giant eBay, payments startup Stripe and Latin America payment app Mercado Pago.PayPal had previously switched course on Libra.“It’s a big setback for them but it’s not the end,” Gartner analyst Avivah Litan told The Associated Press.Monday, the Geneva based Libra Association that Facebook formed, is scheduled to convene its first official meeting, and lost the key players before the gavel went down.”It’s not the end for Libra, but the project faces a hard path moving forward – and it’s only getting harder,” notes TheVerge .Bottom line: Would you trust Facebook with your money? What Libra cryptocurrency means for users More: Elizabeth Warren targets Facebook fact-checking policy with false ad saying Zuckerberg endorsed Trump Facebook’s big idea was a digital currency that could could open online purchasing to millions of people who didn’t have access to bank accounts and could reduce the cost of sending money across borders.But Facebook is under attack by politicians who are itching to break it up.
Sen.Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has made it a hallmark of her presidential campaign to do just that, and has gotten into a war of words with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.Zuckerberg responded that if Warren was elected and looked to break up Facebook, that would “suck” and he would fight her in court.”What would really ‘suck’ is if we don’t fix a corrupt system that lets giant companies like Facebook engage in illegal anti-competitive practices, stomp on consumer privacy rights, and repeatedly fumble their responsibility to protect our democracy,” Warren tweeted in response.Against that backdrop, Facebook wants to launch a new currency that people could use to buy things on the social network and elsewhere, a so-called cryptocurrency.
Litan told AP that Facebook can still easily launch Libra in countries that would welcome it, and challenged the notion that Facebook needed partners like Visa and MasterCard to run Libra.“The only reason they want the companies is because it looks good,” she said.
“It was never a democratic blockchain.It was always run by Facebook and a couple of financial companies that were going along for the ride.”Still, when Facebook announced Libra in June, the company said it looked to grow membership from the 27 announced companies to more than 100 in 2020, the planned year for the Libra launch.Instead, notes ArsTechnica , the association’s membership has now fallen to 22 companies.Netherlands-based payment company PayU is still in the consortium.“We are focused on moving forward and continuing to build a strong association of some of the world’s leading enterprises, social impact organizations and other stakeholders,” Facebook said, in a statement to Reuters.“Although the makeup of the Association members may grow and change over time, the design principle of Libra’s governance and technology, along with the open nature of this project ensures the Libra payment network will remain resilient.” Contributing: The Associated Press.
