SAN FRANCISCO — PayPal said on Friday that it had pulled out of the coalition of companies involved in a Facebook-backed cryptocurrency initiative, in the latest headache for the social network’s effort. The proposed cryptocurrency, Libra, has been in the works at Facebook for more than a year and was announced to much fanfare in June. Libra was designed to function as a cryptocurrency that could be freely traded inside Facebook’s properties, like Messenger and WhatsApp, and would be used for international exchange. At the time, Facebook said more than 27 corporate partners — including Visa, Mastercard and companies like Uber — had pledged to support the project. PayPal’s decision is a blow to Facebook and its ambitions for Libra, which are based on the premise that Libra will be controlled not by Facebook but by a broad network of corporate partners.

Source: International New York Times October 04, 2019 20:48 UTC