The Diem Association, supported by Facebook and in charge of launching a cryptomenda, has confirmed that closes and has sold its Diem Payments Network assets for $200 million to Silvergate, a cryptocurrency-focused bank it had been working with since last year to launch a cryptocurrency. Or more specifically, of a stablecoin or stable virtual currency, a type of virtual currency created to reduce the volatility that cryptocurrencies suffer in their price and that is often linked to legal tender currencies, or to other cryptocurrencies.
Diem decided to cease its activity after it became clear to its members that federal regulators were not going to allow the project to go forward. Nevertheless, its CEO, Stuart Levyhas indicated that they continue «trusting in the potential of a stablecoin that operates on a Blockchain designed like Diem’s, to offer the benefits that motivated the Diem Association from the beginning. With today’s sale, Silvergate will be well placed to advance this vision.«.
This sale, yes, puts an end to Mark Zuckerberg’s dream of launching his own cryptocurrency through Facebook. A dream that he has been trying to make a reality for a little over two years now, with a project that has never been without controversy. The Diem Association began its journey in 2019, with the aim of creating a global currency based on Blockchain technology, and a digital wallet that works based on the same system.
Almost immediately, regulators around the world raised concerns about the privacy risks that could come with the partnership-powered digital currency and infrastructure. Initially, when the currency was going to be called Libra, they had the support of quite a few companies, but it didn’t take long for many of the largest to back down and abandon the project. Among them eBay, PayPal, Visa, Mastercard and Stripe.
Shortly thereafter they renamed the project and the name of the association to Diem, but they continued to arouse mistrust, if not outright rejection, from regulators. His digital wallet, Novi, repurposed to use the ESDP stablecoin instead of the one Diem wanted to launch. In addition to the closure of the Diem Association, Meta has become one of the members of COPA (Crypto Open Patent Alliance), and in doing so promised not to take their main cryptocurrency patents, making them freely available.
