American online payment service, PayPal, decided to walk away from Facebook's Libra Project. (Image via Daily Express)

PayPal becomes the first company to back off from Facebook's Libra Project

The future of Facebook’s Libra Project is getting more uncertain after the American online payment company, PayPal Holdings Inc., became the first company to walk out of the association consisting of nearly 30 big monetary and provider companies to help Facebook in realizing the project.

The announcement came on Friday in an official statement from PayPal. The company stated that it would yield itself from any discussion with Libra. Instead, PayPal wants to focus on its own development.

However, PayPal hinted that it did not close any possibility for negotiation with Facebook concerning Libra. With the withdrawal of PayPal from the plan, there are only 28 companies in the project including Visa, Mastercard, Uber, and others.

The Libra Project had been receiving backlashes from the international regulators. However, Facebook is still trying to officiate Libra by June 2020. Last week, Facebook stated that it could postpone the Libra’s launch date to appease the cynical regulators.

The cynical regulators proved to be horrifying for Visa and Mastercard. Both are considering their involvement in Libra as they want to avoid any criticism from the regulators. Mastercard had yet to comment, but Visa’s CEO, Al Kelly, stated that Visa might be following PayPal’s step to quit the project, judging the tone of Kelly’s voice in the statement.

As a matter of fact, Facebook and the companies for the Libra Project were going to meet in October in Geneva to appoint the board of directors. However, with the conditions, it seems that the talks have to wait.

Source: https://reut.rs/31OBdDE