At the time the association comprised of over 30 founding companies, with each one expected to contribute a minimum of £8m to the project.
Libra was intended as a way to radically shake-up the world’s banking system and was described by Facebook as a means to connect people who did not have access to traditional banking platforms.
Analysts suggested that the platform could become a massive money maker for the social media giant, especially at a time when its platform’s growth was slowing. The announcement, however, also met with concerns from financial regulators and privacy advocates - officials here, and in the US, also expressed worries about the move.
At its launch Libra certainly attracted a long list of supporters, with the likes of Mastercard, PayPal, eBay and uber all joining. So, what could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot, actually. In the past few weeks the project has started to unravel.
To date, nearly every payment firm that initially agreed to join Facebook’s cryptocurrency has backed out. This could prove to be a fatal blow to the social network’s plan for a worldwide digital currency.
PayPal was the first of Libra’s big partners to exit, announcing that it would no longer be involved, followed by Visa and Mastercard and the Latin American payment system Mercado Pago. Also backing out, eBay.
Facebook and the Libra Association are suggesting that the makeup of the association members was always likely to change, but that the design principles that underpin Libra’s governance and technology are resilient.
That may be the case but it appears that the founding members have been getting cold feet in the face of international legislative scrutiny into the platform.
There are real worries around privacy and if it offers anonymity to its users, it could become a platform for tax evasion, money laundering and a source of finance for terrorists. If its privacy protections are weak, then Libra could give Facebook access to users’ most intimate financial details.
And it’s that last point that should be of most concern as Facebook has a poor track record when it comes to privacy. It appears that many of the original members could be thinking along similar lines.
