Booking Holdings Inc., the company behind leading travel sites such as Kayak, Priceline and Agoda, is the latest company to pull out of Facebook Inc.’s Libra Association.

The decision by Booking to exit Libra follows in the footsteps of PayPal Holdings Inc. Oct. 6 and Mastercard Inc., Visa Inc., eBay Inc., Stripe Inc. and Mercado Pago Oct. 10. The company did not give a formal statement as to why it was withdrawing but did confirm that it was to CNBC today.

The reasoning behind Booking fleeing Libra is likely similar to those that left before it: regulatory scrutiny given that politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have criticized Facebook’s cryptocurrency plans. In the U.S. it has been attacked by members of Congress as well as President Donald Trump. In Europe, it has been targeted by investigations and hearings.

A spokesperson for Libra said in a statement that association appreciates Booking’s support for the “goals and mission of the project.”

Booking’s departure came as the Libra Association held its first meeting in Geneva, Switzerland earlier today.

Despite losing some of its biggest backers, Facebook continued to spin the news, claiming at the meeting that the seven companies that have departed could be replaced by a whopping 180 potential new members. “This new crop of potential recruits could help the Libra Association reach its 100-member goal ahead of a scheduled 2020 launch that looks likely to be delayed by intense regulator pushback,” TechCrunch reported.

At its first meeting, the remaining members of the Libra Association appointed its first board of directors. David Marcus from Facebook was elected along with Katie Huan from Andreessen Horowitz, Wences Casares from Xapo, Matthew Davie from Kiva and Patrick Ellis from PayU. Bertrand Perez, former senior director of payments engineering at PayPal was confirmed at the meeting as Libra’s chief operating officer and managing director.

Booking’s departure from Libra isn’t a huge blow to the nascent cryptocurrency, although it does remove potential outlets in which the cryptocurrency could have been spent. The bigger blow was the withdrawal of credit card and payment processors on Friday with the likes of Visa and Mastercard taking away Libra’s main ability to have mainstream support outside Facebook and its owned apps such as Instagram and WhatsApp.

Although some of its best-known supporters have now abandoned it, Libra still has 21 founding backers, including among them prominent venture capital firms. So the withdrawals are by no means terminal and the cryptocurrency still has a potentially long road ahead of it.

Photo: Public Domain Pictures