By On 2nd October 2019, Visa, Mastercard, Paypal and Stripe who had joined Facebook as founding members of the Libra Association are undecided whether to sign on to the cryptocurrency project officially.
The four payment provider service companies are wavering over whether to sign onto Libra’s organizing charter officially. Apparently, they are concerned about maintaining positive relationships with regulators who have reservations about the project.
Before Libra was unveiled, the 28 founding members signed nonbinding letters of intent to explore joining the association. The association has asked the founding members to reaffirm their commitment to the Libra project later this month.
David Marcus, the Facebook executive leading the libra efforts said in a tweet on Wednesday that the first wave of Libra Association members will be formalized in the coming weeks. He was unaware of any current libra partners who might reconsider from officially joining the organization, he added.
Companies that officially join the charter won’t have to contribute the initial US$10-million required as an investment in the project.
The option to delay the payment shows the association’s strategy to move the Libra project forward in baby steps, according to the report. This move will give members more time to work out how their participation might affect the rest of their companies’ operations and regulatory obligations.
European Countries Threaten to Ban Libra
Meanwhile, some European finance ministers have threatened to ban Libra in their respective countries. European Union’s antitrust chief said that she’d taken the unusual step of scrutinizing Libra because of the risk it can cause to the economy.
Diogo Monica, the co-founder of Anchorage, a technology company that safeguards cryptocurrencies, said in a phone interview that Libra has started addressing regulators’ concerns by making tweaks to its technology and policies, such as its anti-money laundering policies.
Privately, US lawmakers grilled Marcus over the summer, questioning whether Facebook could be trusted to expand into financial services.
Facebook announced the project in June to make international payments very simple. It draws on big companies in the payments as well as venture capital companies and non-profit organizations. Unfortunately, the publicity perspective on the project has only incurred a negative response from all industries.
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