FACEBOOK’S LIBRA CURRENCY BATTERED BY DEFECTIONS, PUSHBACK

Facebook faces a rough road ahead with Libra, but defections by high-profile partners are still unlikely to spell the end for the digital currency.

Visa and MasterCard announced their departures from the Libra project, as did e-commerce giant eBay and payments startup Stripe. Last week, PayPal became the first major company to drop out of Libra. The exodus comes amid growing — not to mention stronger-than-anticipated — regulatory pushback against Libra in the U.S. and elsewhere.

“It’s a big setback for them but it’s not the end,” said Gartner analyst