Facebook’s Libra Association crumbling as Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and others exit

One week after PayPal left the project

By Russell Brandom Oct 11, 2019, 4:01pm EDT

Visa, Mastercard, eBay, Stripe, and Mercado Pago have all withdrawn from the Libra Association, dealing a major blow to Facebook’s plans for a distributed, global cryptocurrency. The withdrawals were first reported by the Financial Times and Bloomberg.

A Visa spokesperson told The Verge. “Visa has decided not to join the Libra Association at this time,” the spokesperson said. “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.”

The withdrawals leave Libra with no major US payment processor, a serious issue for the fledgling project. They also come just one week after PayPal (eBay’s former subsidiary) withdrew from the association.

The first official meeting of the Libra Council is in just three days, scheduled for October 14th in Geneva. That meeting will likely result in more specific commitments from all the members involved, which may have inspired some of the recent defections. Still, the departures leave the project in a precarious place as Libra hopes to move beyond initial criticisms of the project.

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