Amid the widespread woes that Facebook’s Libra project has been facing recently, fresh reports suggest that the social media giant is undeterred by the exits of key members, which included several leading processors and executives. According to the latest reports, now Facebook claims that it has doubled down on its promise to raise the number of members in its governing association to 100 by the time the launch will take place.
Earlier, facebook’s efforts to introduce Libra met with several setbacks ranging from regulatory scrutiny to key members’ exodus.
Bertrand Perez, CEO & interim managing director of Libra Association, said, that has full confidence that the association would comfortably reach the 100 member goal. However, he also emphasized that it is doubtful whether the new members will be able to match the weight and reach of the earlier members.
Prez added, “There’s only one Visa, one MasterCard, I will not tell you that we have the equivalent, but I will tell you that we have reputable companies that are also very active in the financial and banking space.”
Meanwhile, the Libra Association has managed to finalize its charter and elected board members earlier this week. It is noteworthy that approximately 1,500 entities had shown interest in becoming the part of the association, and as of now, 180 companies managed to fulfill the membership benchmark.
A majority of seven members, who exited from Libra Association in the previous month, i.e., September 2019, were hailing from the financial services industry. These exited members had signed the Letters of Intent (LOI) to express their commitment to the Association but failed to pay the $10 million important to obtain their promise.
Soon after announcing their exit, It was revealed that the exited members’ concerns were linked to Facebook’s handling of regulatory questions related to Libra Association. When Libra’s co-creator David Marcus appeared in Washington D.C., lawmakers made sure to express their criticism and scorn for the association’s goals.
The fresh batch of departures was hurried by Democratic Senators’ letter to association members. In the letter, there is a warning for the members that there will extra regulatory scrutiny on their core business in case they decide to support the Libra project.
Facebook has already publicized in September 2019, that it would soon launch its cryptocurrency Libra. And, since then facebook continues to receive the criticism of US Lawmakers and government officials of various other nations. The US Lawmakers feel that Libra needs to be thoroughly scrutinized, and only then the project should be given the go-ahead.
Libra is currently attracting a top level of scrutiny from lawmakers and authorities.
