British telecom conglomerate Vodafone announced about its decision to leave the Libra association. Former is the governing council for Libra stablecoin, and on paper, it functions independently from Facebook, though the social network is association’s distinguished member.
Vodafone is the eighth company, who quit the Libra association. 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 fear that Libra becomes the threat for dollar, so they issued that the regulatory scrutiny may increase even more. After such intimidation tactics from the U.S. senators, several companies preferred to leave the association or refuse to join. Consequently, these were Visa, PayPal, Mastercard, Mercado Pago, eBay, Stripe, and Booking Holdings.
Vodafone – The First Company to Withdraw From Association
As the company’s spokesperson noted, they want to focus on their service, and the regulatory concerns weren’t the motivating factor to leave Libra. Moreover, they think that M-Pesa is the best way to bring affordable financial services to the poor population at present, which is Vodafone’s main aim.
Vodafone announced 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.
It seems the parting is 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.
On the other hand, Dante Disparte, head of policy and communication with the Libra Association, also talked about Vodafone’s decision.
Disparte issued that the makeup of the Association members may change over time. Nevertheless, the design of Libra’s governance and technology guarantees that the Libra payment system will remain resilient.
