International

PayPal Holdings Inc. pulled out of the Libra Association, a blow to Facebook Inc.’s efforts to develop a digital currency.

“PayPal has made the decision to forgo further participation in the Libra Association at this time and to continue to focus on advancing our existing mission and business priorities as we strive to democratize access to financial services for underserved populations,” the payments company said in a statement emailed to Bloomberg News on Friday. A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment.

Several founding members of the Facebook-led project have been wavering over whether to fully embrace the effort because they’re concerned about maintaining positive relationships with regulators who have reservations about the initiative, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg earlier this week.

Concerns that PayPal might back away from the project intensified on Thursday when the company was mysteriously absent from a meeting of Association members in Washington. All of the other original partners were in attendance, according to people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified discussing a private meeting.