PayPal Cuts Ties With Libra
It’s been revealed by numerous news outlets that the online payment giant PayPal has withdrawn from Facebook’s cryptocurrency-driven Libra Association, a non-profit organization that oversees the growth and development of the Libra ecosystem.
This makes PayPal the first participant of the association to “forego further participation.” The reasons behind the sudden decision remain vague, but it is easy to hypothesize the motives behind PayPal’s actions.
While PayPal remains amicable towards Facebook and Libra itself, it will continue to focus on its own development going forward.
“We remain supportive of Libra’s aspirations and look forward to continued dialogue on ways to work together in the future.” – PayPal Spokesperson
PayPal has since been removed from the list of founding members on the official Libra Association Web page!
Despite Controversy, Libra Moves Forward for Mainnet Launch!
Libra has caught the attention of everyone, prompting controversy and excitement at all levels. The announcement back in June has triggered financial institutions to stand up and take action, with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse calling it “a massive call to action!”
On the contrary to that statement, Facebook’s Libra coin has attracted the stern attention of governments across the globe, including Trump and the Treasury Secretary weighing in on digital assets overall. Some within the French government are also calling for Libra to be banned in the E.U.
Facebook delving into cryptocurrencies has created a rift between financial institutions, government, and technology corporations. This could have been the deal-breaker for PayPal, which was potentially stuck in the middle due to its financial- and digital-based business model.
Technical development of the Libra Core testnet is moving along regardless of controversy and drama, with developers releasing several blockchain explorers and wallet integrations.
“Response from the developer community has been thrilling to watch. Developers have released several blockchain explorers (libranaut, libraview, librabrowser, and libexplorer) and integrated Libra testnet into their wallets (ZenGo, including a large PR to Libra Core).
We’ve also seen other blockchain projects integrate Move into their systems (Solana). Calibra continues to develop Libra Core heavily on GitHub.” – Libra Blog Post
With development moving forward for Libra coin, the world may have to accept that this new form of currency is emerging and could indeed be the call to action needed for the Internet of Value to be integrated into the Internet of Things.
The big question for PayPal is what they will do next to innovate and stay relevant. Will they create a blockchain-inspired system of their own or create digital assets to represent fiat value, like Libra or other stablecoins…?
This is not investment advice; please always do thorough research and only invest what you are willing to lose, especially in times of uncertainty.