The Diem Association, which was founded to give the digital currency of Meta (Facebook) a new start, is being dismantled. The organization sells its intellectual property rights and other assets to Silvergate Capital Corporation for $ 182 million.
“It had become clear in the course of our discussions with the US authorities that the project could no longer make progress,” Director General Stuart Levey said in a press release. Meta had launched into the digital currency arena in 2019 with Libra.
The intention was to develop a new payment method for the users of the social networks of the American multinational outside the traditional banking circuit.
However, the project encountered resistance from regulators, who expressed apprehension about a currency managed by a private group and feared for financial stability. Moreover, after important partners such as PayPal, Visa and Mastercard dropped out, Meta had to adjust its ambitions.
With the input of other investors, a new crypto coin was launched with Diem at the end of 2020, but that project also appears to find no support from the regulators. “The best we can do is sell Diem’s assets,” Levey concluded. As a result, the organization and its affiliates will be dismantled ‘in the coming weeks’.