Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project has seen an increase in participation in recent weeks, and now Shopify has joined the project.
Libra Gets New Lease of Life with Shopify Entry
Libra, the cryptocurrency project by Facebook, has experienced a torrid couple of months, with regulatory agencies breathing down their neck and several of its partners quitting the project. However, things might be turning around for them as the e-commerce giant, Shopify joins the Libra project.
Facebook has been facing challenges with its cryptocurrency after partners such as Visa, MasterCard, Vodafone, and a few others backed out of the project. However, Shopify has now joined the project, which could indicate that there is still hope for the cryptocurrency to succeed.
Shopify now joins the likes of Uber, Lyft, Coinbase, Facebook’s subsidiary Calibra, Xapo Holdings, Anchorage, Bison Trails, Thrive Capital, Ribbit Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, PayU, Iliad, Farfetch, Creative Destruction Lab, Women’s World Banking, Mercy Corps, Kiva, and Union Square Ventures.
The entry of Shopify into the project is a big boost as the Canadian-based e-commerce platform currently provides services to over a million merchants and online retailers around the world. Shopify is committing $10 million to the Libra project.
Shopify stated in a blog postthat, “We spend a lot of our time thinking about how to make commerce better in parts of the world where money and banking could be far better.” Thus, as a member of the Libra Association, Shopify will work with the other companies to develop a payment network that makes it easier for people to access money and support both merchants and consumers around the globe.
Facebook Expected to Launch Libra in Second Half of 2020
Facebook announced in 2019 that it would launch the Libra coin in the second half of the year. However, it is still unclear if they would achieve the aim due to regulatory pressure from different governments across the world.
As a result, Mark Zuckerberg,Facebook founder,and David Marcus, the head of Calibra, have been questioned by the US Congress regarding the company’s plans for the Libra project. The Congress aims to address the fears that the Libra could undermine the power of the US dollar (USD) and challenge its supremacy as the leading currency in the world.
Regulatory agencies in Europe have also been looking at the Libra coin and its implication to their economy. Valdis Dombrovskis, who is the Vice President of the European Commission (EC), recently expressed his unhappiness at the lack of adequate details regarding the Libra cryptocurrency, even after the commission sent several questions to the association. At the moment, the information available makes it insufficient for the EU to determine the nature of Libra and how it will impact existing currencies.
Vodafone Posts Facebook Ad for Bitcoin
Vodafone, one of the companies to pull out of the Libra project, recently ran a Facebook ad for Bitcoin in German. The Facebook ad message reads, “Will there be Bitcoins instead of pocket money soon? What should grandma give you if everyone will pay with their smartphone in the future?”
Vodafone left Libra to focus on its payment platform, M-Pesa, which is one of the largest payment apps in Africa. The company aims to expand the regions that M-Pesa operates and makes it easier for people in the underbanked and undevelopedareas to be able to carry out transactions.