Libra Association loses yet another member — Vodafone

Facebook’s announcement of its own cryptocurrency, Libra, made quite a bit of commotion with countries, regulators, and even other companies around the world in 2019. The project seemed big, optimistic, and revolutionary at first, so it did not really surprise anyone when numerous large corporations decided to provide their support and join the Libra Association. However, it was also not long before many of them started to leave, led by PayPal. Soon after PayPal left, Visa, Mastercard, eBay, and others followed, and now, Vodafone joined the list, as well. Vodafone’s departure continues to shrink the number of members of the Libra Association, despite the fact that the company stated that the possibility of collaboration in the future still remains. Now that Vodafone left the Association, the number of its members dropped from the original 28, to only 20. The company is currently planning to use its resources for its own digital payments service, M-Pesa. Meanwhile, many speculate that the reason behind the firm’s departure is the fact that Libra continues to have regular clashes with the governments and regulators, with no hint of resolving their issues.

Libra pushes forward despite members’ departure

Copy link to section The current situation remains rather uncertain for Facebook’s Libra, but even so, the project continues to push forward, despite this. Meanwhile, Libra Association’s head of policy and communication, Dante Disparte, commented on the new situation. He said that the Association members’ makeup may change over time, but the design of Libra’s technology and governance ensures resiliency. Of course, difficulties with regulators and policymakers still pose an obstacle for Libra, which is why many doubt that the project will manage to launch the coin in 2020, as previously expected. This doubt is further strengthened by Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, who recently posted the company’s ‘vision for the decade,’ which lacked a specific mention of the project. But, Libra continues to push on despite this, and it still captures quite a lot of interest from firms that are hoping to participate and grant their support. The wait ist currently has more than 1,500 companies, and the project even has plans to admit multiple new members this year.