Rumours abound – apparently, allegedly, as PayPal was the only one of the 28 backers that did not attend a recent key meeting they are perceived to be on the verge of pulling out of the project. Read the detail here at the FT.
Despite this, the head of policy and communications for the Libra Association, Dante Disparte, remains bullish insisting that all systems are still go this being further reinforced by a spokesperson for Libra insisting that ‘1,500 entities’ had indicated they would participate in Libra.
Elsewhere it is also rumoured that, in light of European and US government official’s more recent negative scrutinising of Libra matters, MasterCard and Visa are having a rethink of their involvement and any possible repercussions.
There could be something in this Rick - not long after you posted this I noticed that David Marcus came out in full DT Tweet mode to head off the WSJ’s assertions in the pass before they gained any major traction…
Of course it’s his role as head of the Libra ‘task force’ to defend this but I find it slightly at odds with reality when he also Tweets that “…I can tell you that we’re very calmly, and confidently working through the legitimate concerns that Libra has raised…”.
Semantics it may be, but surely it is not Libra that has raised these 'legitimate concerns’ but in fact it is Libra that has caused these concerns - two very different interpretations, an almost clever spin by Marcus if you will, but far from convincing.
When will the big guns come out in support as, surely, that is what is needed now?
More resistance to the introduction of Libra has appeared from a hitherto unlikely quarter - a 48 year old Latvian by the name of Valdis Dombrovskis.
Probably not a name known to many before now but from November 2019 his name will assume greater prominence when he takes over as Executive Vice President-Designate of the European Commission you can bet your bottom dollar that the Libra consortium are studying his words very closely.
First PayPal out and now Mastercard out, Visa out, eBay out, Stripe out and Mercado Pago out.
Yet all the while - pardon my analogy - Nero (Marcus) fiddles as Rome (Libra) burns and finds these departures ‘liberating’ !
Maybe these erstwhile backers know something we don’t - or is their fleeing to be seen as a form of preemptive damage limitation ahead of Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, appointment on 23 October to testify in front of Congress?
