EBay and Stripe are dropping out of Facebook’s libra cryptocurrency project, the companies announced Friday. The news comes one week after PayPal announced its withdrawal as government regulators continue to scrutinize the plans.In a statement, an eBay spokesperson said, “We highly respect the vision of the Libra Association; however, eBay has made the decision to not move forward as a founding member. At this time, we are focused on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers.”A Stripe spokesperson said in a statement, “Stripe is supportive of projects that aim to make online commerce more accessible for people around the world. Libra has this potential. We will follow its progress closely and remain open to working with the Libra Association at a later stage.”The original coalition of 28 corporate backers of the libra cryptocurrency seems to be dwindling as lawmakers continue to question how it will impact sovereign currencies and how the project’s leaders can ensure consumers’ protection. Mastercard and Visa had both been reconsidering their roles in the project as well, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify about libra before the House Financial Services Committee on Oct. 23. The hearing was scheduled after several committee members called for his testimony while negotiating for COO Sheryl Sandberg to appear. David Marcus, who leads the libra project and was previously the president of PayPal, testified before the committee in July. At the time, representatives including Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., had asked Marcus whether Facebook would postpone its plans until the necessary regulations were in place. Marcus did not give an affirmative answer, according to Waters’ judgement. She said his answer “was not a commitment.”-CNBC’s Salvador Rodriguez contributed to this report.This story is developing. Check back for updates.Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.
