Rumors that the credit card giants were about to withdraw from the project flourished already last week. Last Friday, news came out that both Visa and Mastercard, together with the payment company Stripe and the e-commerce company Ebay, are leaving the cryptocurrency's collaboration organization Libra Associations.

"We will continue to evaluate and our final decision will be determined by a number of factors, including the organisation's ability to fully meet all necessary expectations regarding oversight," Visa said in a statement.

The message comes just one week after the payment service company PayPal announced that it is withdrawing from the project.

Continues as planned

Whether Friday's dropout will affect the crypto currency's launch, which is scheduled for 2020, is still unclear. The immediate reaction from the Libra Association support organization was that the work is progressing as usual.

"We focus on moving forward and continuing to build a strong bond between some of the world's leading companies, social impact organizations and other stakeholders," said Dante Disparte, communications manager for the Libra Association, in a statement.

Political pressure

Libra, which is a private currency project led by Facebook, has faced sharp criticism since its launch plans were released this summer.

Critics include US President Donald Trump, the head of US Central Bank Jerome Powell and the French and German governments.

The criticism has, among other things, been about the risks of the crypto currency's potential link to possible money laundering, but also that a private global currency may move economic power from states to the private sphere.

According to the Politico news site, several of the companies that are now hoping have been targets for direct political pressure in recent weeks.

Two Democratic senators are reported to have, in writing, tried to discourage companies from participating in the Libra project by warning that they may be subject to careful financial scrutiny - not just linked to Libra transactions but to all transactions.