Founding Members Mastercard, Visa, eBay, Stripe Abandon Facebook’s Digital Currency Plan
Mastercard and eBay followed PayPal Friday in abandoning membership in Facebook’s Libra Association. Visa and Stripe also reportedly declined to join the association. The companies are five of the 28 founding members that Facebook expected to sign the association’s charter.…
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Their exits came days after Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, sent letters to Visa, Mastercard and Stripe expressing concerns about the project. “We highly respect the vision of the Libra Association; however, eBay has made the decision to not move forward as a founding member,” a spokesperson emailed. “At this time, we are focused on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers.” Mastercard remains “focused on our strategy and our own significant efforts to enable financial inclusion around the world,” a spokesperson emailed. “We believe there are potential benefits in such initiatives and will continue to monitor the Libra effort.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to testify Oct. 23 before House lawmakers on Libra (see 1910090038). Facebook, Visa and Stripe didn't comment.