Santander Bank becomes the second company to leave R3. Is the $150 million membership fee the key trigger?

Spanish banking giant Banco Santander is no longer a member of the R3 blockchain consortium, CoinDesk has learned.

Goldman Sachs, one of the 12 founding members of the blockchain consortium, announced its departure from R3. A few hours later, Santander Bank also revealed similar news. As of press time, Goldman Sachs has not yet stated the reason for its departure. It is reported that R3 is currently raising up to 1.5亿美元in membership fees from its members.

A Santander Bank spokesman also remained tight-lipped about the specific reasons, saying he could not reveal too many details.

He told CoinDesk:

We have decided to leave the R3 Alliance.

A person familiar with the matter revealed that several companies, including Santander Bank, have recently left R3 in secret, but the fundraising plan is still going forward.

Although Santander did not disclose further details, their decision does not seem to be directly related to Goldman Sachs.

In response to Santander’s departure, the R3 spokesperson reiterated his sentiments:

Developing such technology requires dedication and a lot of resources, and different members of our team have different abilities, which naturally change over time.

R3 has not yet commented on its fundraising plans.