Vodafone, the British telecom conglomerate, decided to leave the Libra association in favor of developing its M-Pesa service. As the company’s speaker announced, the latest regulatory concerns towards the Libra currency weren’t the motivating factor to leave the association.
The company wants to focus on its service. They think that M-Pesa is the best way to bring affordable financial services to the poor population at present, which is their primary aim.
Vodafone issued from the outset that they desire to make a genuine contribution to extending financial inclusion. As a result, they are fully committed to that goal.
So far, the parting seems amicable for both parties. According to Vodafone, they will continue to monitor the development of the Libra Association. The company does not rule out the possibility of future cooperation.
M-Pesa offers its customers to pay with some different currencies, accepting several of them. It’s possible that in the future, they will add stable coins, maybe including Libra, to these currencies.
Dante Disparte, head of policy and communication with the Libra Association, also talked about Vodafone’s decision. He announced that the makeup of the Association members might change over time. However, the design of Libra’s governance and technology guarantees the Libra payment system with enduring such pressure.
Seven Companies Left the Libra Association
Vodafone is the eighth company, who quit the Libra association. Former is the governing council for Libra stablecoin, and on paper, it functions independently from Facebook. Though the social network is the association’s distinguished member.
Some of the other members were concerned about the regulators’ response, which became an obstacle on the way of launching the project in 2020. The U.S. authorities are concerned that Libra threatens the dollar, so they issued that the regulatory scrutiny may increase even more.
After such intimidation tactics from the U.S. senators, several companies preferred not to join the association. Consequently, these were Visa, PayPal, Mastercard, Mercado Pago, eBay, Stripe, and Booking Holdings.
