Facebook’s potential upcoming global cryptocurrency project, Libra, has received positive news from Shopify. The Canadian multinational e-commerce giant announced today that it would join the Libra association to create a safe and accessible payment network.
Almost immediately after its announcement in mid-2019, Libra became a target of regulators across the world. While they were clamping down, Facebook’s cryptocurrency project quickly lost steam. Even though it’s supposed to be released later this year, the company behind Libra has been rather quiet on the subject.
However, Libra might be catching a break. Announced earlier today, the Ontario-based e-commerce giant, Shopify, will join the Libra Association. The Canadian company is looking for a way to “make commerce better in parts of the world where money and banking could be far better.”
“As a member of the Libra Association, we will work collectively to build a payment network that makes money easier to access and supports merchants and consumers everywhere.”
Besides, the statement outlines the primary goal to establish a more empowering infrastructure for entrepreneurs around the world.
Shopify’s entrance comes in a tough period for Libra. The latter started with 23 initial partners, but some of the biggest names quit the project rapidly. As Cryptopotato reported last year, the severe backlash from politicians and world watchdogs pushed companies like Uber, MasterCard, Visa, and Spotify to back off.
In January 2020, Vodafone joined that quitting list. The giant telecommunications company left Facebook’s cryptocurrency project to work on its mobile payments platform – M-Pesa.
Following all the hurdles in its way, Facebook officials also seemed somewhat skeptical about the project. By listing “scrutiny from governments” as the main reason, a company quarterly report warned that Libra might be delayed or even not launched at all.
In late 2019 the social media mogul made another step that the community regarded as backing off from its Libra initiative. The company launched Facebook Pay – a non-cryptocurrency payment system to be used with credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal.
Despite all of the above, Shopify joining the Libra Association appears as a step in the right direction. Yet, it’s still unclear if Facebook will indeed launch Libra this year, as promised.