Facebook continues to lose allies. The telecom giant Vodafone quit the Libra Association, which is responsible for the development and promotion of the Libra cryptocurrency.

Following the payment systems PayPal and Mastercard, which did not dare to confront the US regulators, the telecommunication company Vodafone left the Libra Association.

“Vodafone Group has decided to withdraw from the Libra Association,” a Vodafone spokesperson said. “We have said from the outset that Vodafone’s desire is to make a genuine contribution to extending financial inclusion. We remain fully committed to that goal and feel that we can make the most contribution by focusing our efforts on M-Pesa. We will continue to monitor the development of the Libra Association and do not rule out the possibility of future co-operation.”

Libra’s head of policy and communication Dante Disparte commented on Vodafone's decision:

“Although the makeup of the Association members may change over time, the design of Libra's governance and technology ensures the Libra payment system will remain resilient.”

Facebook announced its plans to develop and launch a digital currency, whose value will be tied to a basket of fiat currencies, in June 2019.

Stablecoin Libra is designed to be used as a global means of payment and will be supported by a basket of sovereign currencies, including the US dollar, euro, British pound and others. The goal of the project is to build a financial ecosystem that will help empower billions of people.

The project was immediately sharply criticized by world regulators and government officials who saw in it a threat to the monetary sovereignty of their countries.

Payment giants Mastercard and Visa left the Libra project in October 2019, citing regulatory uncertainty. They were followed by PayPal, Stripe and eBay.

According to CoinDesk, the Libra Association intends to accept new members in 2020. The list of applicants currently exceeds 1,500 companies. To become a member of the association, the applicant must enlist the support of approximately two-thirds of the already included members of the association.