Checkout.com, a British payments startup, has joined the Libra Association to support Facebook’s ambitious digital currency project.
With this addition, the total member count at the Swiss non-profit has become 24. Checkout.com became the second company to join the Libra Association after it updated the digital currency whitepaper – Heifer International was the first.
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“In the Libra Association, we found a group of peers that share in this philosophy and who demonstrated a thoughtful and realistic approach to how blockchain can be leveraged for the greater good,” Guillaume Pousaz, founder and CEO of Checkout.com, stated in an official post.
Notably, Checkout.com is the first payment processor to join the Libra Association after the exit of Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe due to escalating regulatory concerns within months.
The British firm is aiming to leverage Libra to reshape “global commerce.”
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Originally, the Libra Association had 28 members, including Facebook, but eight founding members exit the group. Along with Shopify and Tagomi, four members of the consortium have joined along the way, taking the latest count to 24.
“The Libra project holds the promise of increasing financial inclusion for billions of unbanked people, empowering them to participate in the digital economy and reducing disparities,” Pousaz added.
“It is obvious to me and the wider Checkout.com team that we want to be part of this effort and can contribute to this endeavor by bringing our unparalleled payments engineering expertise.”
Meanwhile, major regulators are yet to react to the updated structure of Libra. Though the digital currency was originally set for a launch in mid-2020, backlash around the world has put a question mark on that deadline.