The constant pressure on Facebook Libra has made it difficult for Libra Association members to lend their full throated support to the venture, with many of them considering dropping out entirely. Paypal’s breaking point appears to have been reached, as the payment provider has decided to leave the association as the U.S. congress calls on Mark Zuckerberg to testify and European NGOs petition against the digital crypto.
The bad news began when Facebook Chief Operator Officer Sheryl Sandberg had agreed to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, but congress refused to schedule the hearing until founder Mark Zuckerberg agreed to appear as well, Reuters reported on October 4. That deadlock between the social media giant and Congress is bad enough, as the Libra Association had promised not to release its currency until regulators approved it, and there would be no chance for approval until Zuckerberg agreed to testify.
That was enough for PayPal to call it quits. The Block reported on the same date that a source within PayPal leaked they were done with the whole endeavor, but wished them luck going forward. “We remain supportive of Libra’s aspirations and look forward to continued dialogue on ways to work together in the future,” PayPal said in a statement. “Facebook has been a longstanding and valued strategic partner to PayPal, and we will continue to partner with and support Facebook in various capacities.”
If losing PayPal, a major payment provider, wasn’t enough of a shock, take into account that they also recently faced news that both Visa and MasterCard have also recently considered backing out of the project.
But if that wasn’t enough bad news for Libra, a petition from several European NGOs also made the headlines, reaching 55,000 signatures calling on a ban for the currency. The petition was created out of fear that Facebook and its partners simply can’t be trusted to handle any more sensitive information:
Facebook has already breached our privacy countless times. Now, the big tech giant is preparing to invade one of our last areas of privacy: our money.
With partners already dropping and the pressure continuing to mount, Facebook will have to make a decision soon about what to do with its future digital currency, because it appears to be in serious trouble.
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