The US lawmakers are pressuring Stripe, Visa and Mastercard to rethink their membership of the Libra Association as a consequence of PayPal’s very public exit from the Libra project.
On October 8, three letters from two U.S. senators urged the tech and finance giants to “carefully consider” risks before moving forward.
It has been reported by news.Bitcoin.com that PayPal has cut ties with Facebook’s upcoming crypto project by leaving the Libra Association. However, Libra is no stranger to strongly worded letters from government legislators, and now even corporations supporting the project are getting a taste of the regulatory backlash. Letters written by two U.S. Senators, Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) were sent to Stripe Inc., the San Francisco-based online payment processor and finance giants Visa and Mastercard.
The letters stated:
“We urge you to carefully consider how your companies will manage these risks before proceeding, given that Facebook has not yet demonstrated to Congress, financial regulators — and perhaps not even to your companies — that it is taking these risks seriously.”
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Likewise, the risks referenced include those posed to “consumers, regulated financial institutions, and the global financial system.” The letters are only the latest episode in Libra’s ongoing struggle against lawmakers attempting to stall the legally ambiguous project, tracing back to a direct call for a moratorium last summer from Maxine Waters, the U.S. Congress Chair of the House Financial Services Committee. The concerns were the same as now, mainly that Libra could disrupt the global economy.
PayPal’s Reasons for Leaving
While PayPal representatives did not cite a specific reason for leaving the Libra Association, some reports cite the increasing regulatory scrutiny being applied to the group, as well as a perceived lack of adequate response from Libra to lawmakers and regulators.
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A statement from PayPal on the matter reads:
“Facebook has been a longstanding and valued strategic partner to PayPal, and we will continue to partner with and support Facebook in various capacities.”
As Libra continues to unfold, the advent of crypto has created a global situation such that massive tech and finance giants have a tool to potentially challenge the hegemony of established regulatory bodies.
Thus, Mastercard, Visa, and Stripe will soon have to decide how they will handle the pressure as well.
Source: news.Bitcoin.com and theverge.com