Facebook Libra Announces New Board Despite Dwindling Support

The backers of Facebook Libra affirmed they would go ahead despite desertions by some companies from the project and announced a five-member board on Monday.

According to the Cryptocurrency news, the erosion of backers to the cryptocurrency project had raised questions on the future of Libra digital currency.

After the desertions, there are 21 members in the Libra Association and they held their inaugural meeting in Geneva.

Facebook Libra was aiming its launch by June 2020 and would push digital coins into mainstream commerce.

According to Dante Disparte, heading the policy and communications for the Libra Association, some former supporters might have backed out but that that is more of a “correction; and not a setback.”

Disparte, however, hinted that the digital currency’s regulatory issues might lead to a deferred launch date.

Major companies that deserted Libra

The owner of Priceline, Kayak, and Booking.com also confirmed their pull out. Online travel company Booking Holding was the latest to pull out on Monday.

Libra lost global payments backers on Friday after Mastercard and Visa jettisoned the Geneva-based Libra Association. PayPal withdrew from the Libra Association in early October.

Others like eBay, finance startup Stripe and payments company Mercado Pago also quit the association. One reason for the exodus seems to be the hostile stance of politicians and regulators from the United States to Europe.

They have concerns Libra crypto-currency would be a disruptor and upset global financial stability, undercut users’ privacy and expand money laundering.

Reports said the Geneva meeting agreed on the interim articles of association and adoption of a governance pattern suiting to the Swiss law.

G7 report slams Libra

Meanwhile, the G7 economies hardened their stand on Facebook's Libra and said the promoters of Libra should not proceed until they prove the digital currency as safe and secure.

The report by the G7 Group accessed by the BBC showed the world's biggest economies making a warning that cryptocurrencies such as Libra are risky to the global financial system.

According to cryptocurrency news, G7 sees 9 major risks by digital currencies and wanted Libra's promoters to address those concerns for gaining regulators’ nod.

The G7 task force that prepared the report comprised senior officials from central banks, the IMF and the Financial Stability Board of the G20 economies.

Within digital currency, Libra comes under the category of Stablecoins and is different from other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin. Libra will be pegged to established currencies such as the dollar and euro and can limit volatility in value.

But the G7 report said Libra will pose problems for policymakers in the matter of setting interest rates.

Meanwhile, at the Bitcoin news front, analysts note the crypto will incur sizeable volatility in the near-term.

Right now Bitcoin is trading down just above 1 percent of the current Bitcoin price of $8,300. Last week, it zoomed to a high of $8,900 and faced significant resistance and started a short-term downtrend.