While Facebook’s Libra Association is seeing an exodus of its initial partners, e-commerce giant Shopify has become its latest member.
Announced on Friday on Shopify’s official blog, the Ottawa-headquartered company joined the company at a time when major companies like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and eBay ended their ties with Facebook’s ambitious crypto project.
As reported by Finance Magnates, telecom giant Vodafone became the latest one to leave the Libra Association, citing its intentions to re-route its resources from the stalled project to its own digital payment efforts.
“Our mission is to make commerce better for everyone and to do that, we spend a lot of our time thinking about how to make commerce better in parts of the world where money and banking could be far better,” Shopify stated. “That’s why we decided to become a member of the Libra Association.”
Facebook first pitched the idea of its stablecoin last June and formed the Switzerland-based Libra Association to govern and control the digital currency. It, however, faced roadblocks from the regulators worldwide as a digital currency by a platform like Facebook will threaten the current monetary system.
Though there were 28 members in total, including Facebook, at the time of the Libra Association formation, the mass exodus of companies left it with only 20 members. With the joining of Shopify, the number has now increased to 21.
“As a member of the Libra Association, we will work collectively to build a payment network that makes money easier to access and supports merchants and consumers everywhere,” Shopify added.
Will Facebook’s Libra Launch this Year?
Though Facebook first aimed to launch Libra in mid-2020, the regulatory hurdles have raised serious questions on the expected launch date, and many are doubting if Facebook’s Libra will launch this year.
“Our mission has always been to support the entrepreneurial journey of the more than one million merchants on our platform. That means advocating for transparent fees and easy access to capital, and ensuring the security and privacy of our merchants’ customer data,” Shopify added. “We want to create an infrastructure that empowers more entrepreneurs around the world.”