Visa and PayPal Among Top Companies Considering an Early Withdrawal from Libra

Earlier this year, Facebook announced the launch of its very own cryptocurrency, and unveiled a surprisingly long list of endorsers who had joined the non-profit Libra Association – the company in charge of operations – among which were PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Spotify, eBay and other global businesses.

Now part of those same advocates, namely Visa and PayPal, are reconsidering their early, seemingly irrational, decision to back the new crypto coin. The list of reluctant names grows ever higher, as uncertainties pile up. Bloomberg reports claim that concerns started arising over “maintaining positive relationships with regulators who have reservations about the project,” and that Facebook and the Libra Association had mislead them into thinking that regulators were fully on board with the project.

The companies’ reluctance to support Libra mirrors the ever growing ambiguity surrounding Facebook’s project. Nevertheless, the executives behind the project have come forward with defensive statements. For one, David Marcus, the head of Calibra – a Facebook created entity that will be charged with the financial services for Libra – recently tweeted that both Facebook and Calibra are “very calmly, and confidently working through the legitimate concerns that Libra has raised by bringing conversations about the value of digital currencies to the forefront.”

David Marcus further claimed that the list of Libra Association members is not official, for the companies have only signed non-binding documents, with the intent to first test out the ground before firmly stepping on it. Those companies that wish to reaffirm their involvement with Libra, and become official members of the Libra Association, will have to travel to Geneva later this month.