The Ottawa-based e-commerce company joins 16 other corporate members—which are required to contribute US$10 million each to the project—and four non-profit partners working on the development of a global digital cryptocurrency, which is meant to make payments and money transfers easier, particularly in countries that don’t have well-developed systems for them. Shopify did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (The Logic)

Talking point: Shopify will work on the payment network Libra’s proponents plan to build around the digital currency. But Stripe, which processes transactions for Shopify’s revenue-driving payment service, was among a number of high-profile departures from the association last year. Payment giants Mastercard, Visa and PayPal also quit the group in October 2019, following concerns from U.S. regulators that the currency could be used for money-laundering. Shopify is the most prominent addition since those defections. The company has an important working relationship with Facebook, allowing merchants to sell via the platform. In September 2019, the Canadian firm hired Kaz Nejatian as general manager of its financial solutions product group; he previously worked on payment products at Facebook. Shopify is the association’s second Canadian member; the Creative Destruction Lab, a Toronto-based startup incubator, was among its founding “social impact” partners.