Vodafone Leaves Facebook’s Libra Association

In the latest blow to Facebook’s Libra Association, British telecom conglomerate Vodafone has announced it is withdrawing, according to CoinDesk.

Facebook created the association to oversee the Libra cryptocurrency the company is trying to launch. The company’s efforts have been met with significant skepticism and scrutiny by governments around the world. With Facebook’s privacy track record, governments are reluctant to trust it with something as important as currency. As a result of that scrutiny, several high-profile companies had already withdrawn from the association.

Vodafone made it clear to CoinDesk that they are not leaving the association over regulatory concerns, although their reason should be equally concerning to Facebook. Vodafone is leaving “to focus on expanding its own payment service, M-Pesa, beyond the six African countries where it’s currently available. It’s not burning bridges — the company said it wouldn’t rule out the possibility of ‘future cooperation.’”

Many of the Libra Association members are companies that have the financial resources and industry ties to launch their own competing services. It remains to be seen if other companies will follow Vodafone’s lead.