Two major members of the R3 blockchain consortium have called it quits. These include Goldman Sachs, which was one of the founding members of the consortium, and Santander, which joined R3 in December 2015.

The reason as to why the banks decided to leave the consortium remains unknown at the moment. The Wall Street Journal reported that Goldman Sachs did not renew its membership with the consortium, but said that it will continue to explore blockchain technology.

The news about Goldman’s departure was quickly followed by Santander announcing the same. A spokesperson for Santander did not reveal much about the bank’s decision and told CoinDesk:

"We have made the decision to abandon the consortium."

A source familiar with the deal told CoinDesk that Santander is among a small number of firms that may have privately withdrawn from the consortium in recent weeks.

The banks’ decision to quit the consortium comes around the same time when R3 is reportedly changing the structure of the deal. Reuters reported that besides changing the structure of the deal, R3 has cut the amount it seeks to raise from bank members in the first round of equity funding from $200 million to $150 million.

Most of the member banks have agreed to the new terms of the deal, which, among other things, says that the banks will acquire a stake in the development lab where new blockchain-based applications are tested.

R3, however, does not expect all existing members to join the funding round. A source told Reuters that the funding will be raised in phases over the next 9 to 12 months.

In response to the departure of the two banks, an R3 spokesman told WSJ in an email:

“Developing technology like this requires dedication and significant resources, and our diverse pool of members all have different capacities and capabilities which naturally change over time”.