Vodaphone withdraws from Facebook's Libra project

Vodaphone is the last major company announced its withdrawal of Libra. The telephone operator prefers to focus on the development of its digital payment service M-Pesa.

While the Libra association is still having trouble with regulators to issue their digital coin, Vodaphone is the 8th large company to leave the project, reports Coindesk.

This autumn, PayPal, followed byeBay, Stripe, MasterCard, Visa, Mercado pago and Booking.com, also announced abandoned the initiative led by the social media giant.

But unlike payment companies, the departure of Vodaphone was not motivated to jeopardize his relations with the regulatory authorities.

The British telecommunications group has announced that it is leaving the association Libra to focus on its digital payment service M-Pesa.

Launched in 2007 by Vodafone for Safaricom and Vodacom, the two largest mobile operators in Kenya and Tanzania, M-Pesa is a mobile money transfer solution.

“We stated from the outset that the desire to Vodafone was to make a real contribution to the extension of financial inclusion. We remain fully committed to this goal, ”said a spokesperson for the company.

For Dante Disparte, the communications manager of Libra, "Although members may evolve over time, Libra's governance and technology design ensures that the Libra payment system will remain resilient."

Despite the defections and the difficulties encountered with the regulators, the association continues its momentum. In October, she assured that 1,500 organizations had expressed interest in joining the initiative and that about 180 met its criteria.

Last week, she appointed a steering committee who will be in charge of advancing the project.