Mastercard, Visa, eBay and Stripe quit Facebooks Libra

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Mastercard, Visa, eBay and Stripe quit Facebook’s Libra

Five companies, led by Mastercard, Visa and eBay, pulled out of Facebook’s planned digital currency Libra on Friday, following sustained political pressure and just days before the project’s backers are due to meet for their first board meeting.

The exit of Visa, Mastercard, eBay, Stripe and Mercado Pago came as a major blow to Facebook’s ambitions to shake up the global payments market and follows one week after PayPal announced it was also pulling out of the project.

The withdrawals follow intense scrutiny from international regulators and politicians, some of which have called for the project to be halted altogether, citing money laundering concerns and worries about wider financial stability.

“We will continue to evaluate and our ultimate decision will be determined by a number of factors, including the Association’s ability to fully satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations,” a Visa company spokesperson said on Friday.

“Visa’s continued interest in Libra stems from our belief that well-regulated blockchain-based networks could extend the value of secure digital payments to a greater number of people and places, particularly in emerging and developing markets,” the spokesperson added.

An eBay spokesperson said in a statement to the Financial Times that it had made the decision in order to “[focus] on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers”.

Payments group Stripe said that in spite of its exit it still believed Libra had “potential” to “make online commerce more accessible for people around the world” and remained open to working with the project “at a later stage”.

The Libra alliance, a group largely made up of finance and technology companies, had each decided to put at least $10m behind the scheme. The remaining members are due to meet in Geneva on Monday to nominate the board for the project.

Some of the initial members were spooked after it emerged that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, will testify in front of Congress about the plans later this month.