Facebook-owned Meta launched its own Stablecoin in 2019 and faced public backlash, so it tried rebranding it as Libra. Now Mark Zuckerberg’s company finally abandoned Diem, selling the company’s intellectual property to an investment bank.
Is Diem a cryptocurrency?
A permissioned blockchain-based stable coin payment system, Diem is also linked to a private currency implemented as a cryptocurrency. It was designed by the American social media company Meta Platforms.
Diem was meant to be a Stablecoin which, as its name implies, represents a cryptocurrency designed to be less volatile than other cryptocurrencies using national currencies or commodities as collateral.
MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, the man in charge of the project, discussed Jack Dorsey, former Twitter CEO’s views on the failed project.
Meta’s mistake was using a proprietary currency instead of a protocol open to all, noted Block’s CEO. He added that those two or three years of development could have been spent making BTC more accessible. He hopes they learned a lot, but they wasted a lot of time and effort.
He added that this would also benefit Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. We already have these open networks right now, and they can be used.”
“It’s OK not to own the things”
According to Dorsey, cryptocurrency adoption benefits everyone. However, it challenges some conventional thinking in Silicon Valley. In talking about Bitcoin, Dorsey said, “I think the future holds a lot of change, but we just have to be open to not owning it to get value out of it.”.
All major digital asset exchanges, including Binance and Crypto.Com, have their own native assets. Meta is not the first exchange to launch its cryptocurrency.
In the meantime, Dorsey is pushing for open protocols and open standards in the industry. Some companies seem to be paying attention. This week, Meta became a Block’s Crypto Open Patent Alliance member. Meta has pledged not to enforce its “core crypto patents” against other companies, but Meta sold its Diem IP for $200 million.
Dorsey on Bitcoin
It is not surprising for those who follow Dorsey. He is a “Bitcoin maximalist,” meaning that he prefers BTC over any other cryptocurrency.
Founded by Dorsey, Block (formerly Square) focuses primarily on Bitcoin and Bitcoin infrastructure. Block’s CashApp, which enables BTC transfers for free, is now enhanced with Lightning Network support.
