Visa, Mastercard, EBay quit Facebook’s Libra project

San Francisco: In a major jolt to Facebook, several top-notch companies like Visa, Mastercard and EBay have pulled out of the Libra cryptocurrency project ahead of their first meeting in Geneva on October 14.
PayPal was the first to announce its withdrawal from the Libra Association — the 28-member non-profit organisation formed by the social networking giant for the global roll out of its digital currency Libra next year.
“Over the course of a few hours, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and Mercado Pago all bailed on the project. That meant every major US payment processor has exited the association,” reports The Verge.
David Marcus, Libra project head at Facebook, tweeted: “I would caution against reading the fate of Libra into this update. Of course, it’s not great news in the short term, but in a way it’s liberating. Stay tuned for more very soon. Change of this magnitude is hard. You know you’re on to something when so much pressure builds up”.
“Special thanks to @Visa and @Mastercard for sticking it out until the 11th hour. The pressure has been intense (understatement), and I respect their decision to wait until there’s regulatory clarity for @Libra_ to proceed, vs. the invoked threats (by many) on their biz,” he added.
The pull out is to avoid the US regulators who are scrutinizing Facebook and its subsidiaries.