When Facebook initially announced its entrance into the murky world of cryptocurrency six months ago, the reaction was tipped towards the positive — but with a strong dose of doubt and caution. Their Libra digital currency project was meant to make it easy and enticing for Facebook account users to buy and sell items offered on the various Facebook marketing sites that were blossoming by the thousands each month. Today on Facebook it’s possible to buy anything from a house to a stamp collection to a croquet set. 

Big merchandisers like Amazon and Walmart didn’t like the idea of Facebook muscling in on their territory, and started a barrage of press releases and so-called ‘informative infomercials’ to warn consumers that if they opened up a Libra account they were opening up a Pandora’s Box for themselves.

Facebook didn’t take their mudslinging seriously at first, because many major financial institutions got behind the Libra cryptocurrency idea and publicly allied themselves with the upcoming payment system.

But in the last few weeks some of those major financial backers have backed out, letting caution replace enthusiasm for a possible new source of income. 

And so this week Facebook, eating a slice of humble pie, has announced the scaling back of its Libra Council of Financial Backers, from the original 28 backers to 21, as it meets with regulators in Geneva, Switzerland.