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The organization fought for two and a half years to promote its initiative
Representatives of the association of the crypto project Meta (formerly Facebook) – Diem Association, formerly known as the Libra Association, are discussing options for selling the company’s assets and returning money to investors. Bloomberg writes about this, citing information received from sources.
According to the interlocutors of the publication, the Diem team is discussing options for selling intellectual property with investment bankers. Also, company representatives are busy looking for suitable vacancies for the distribution of employees to other projects.
The behavior of Meta shares against the background of the news release and premarket data. Source: market watch
Harbingers of the Storm
News that Diem was discussing asset sale options was preceded by a wave of layoffs. In particular, at the end of November 2021, the head of the Meta payments division David Markus left the project. It was he who defended the company’s crypto initiative before the US Senate and was involved in the development of the Novi digital wallet developed as part of the initiative.
A series of dismissals of developers from Meta, in turn, was preceded by another wave of criticism of the company’s crypto project. For example, at the end of October 2021, the Democrats demanded that the representatives of the organization curtail Novi and Diem.
What’s wrong with Diem
The Meta crypto project faced criticism almost immediately after the presentation in June 2019. Initially, the initiative was promoted under the name Libra. As part of the project, the developers wanted to release a stablecoin pegged to a basket of national currencies.
Libra video presentation:
Regulators saw risks in issuing Facebook’s stablecoin. In particular, the regulatory authorities drew attention to the fact that the company will be able to quickly distribute a financial instrument that is not controlled by the authorities at the expense of the accumulated audience.
Statistics on the number of monthly active users of Facebook products. Source: Statista
To ease regulatory pressure, Libra representatives have tried to promote the project as a US response to China’s upcoming digital yuan launch. The American authorities preferred to cooperate with Facebook to create a digital version of the dollar.
The developers have repeatedly “redrawn” the project in order to reduce regulatory pressure. For example, in December 2020, against the backdrop of the transformation of Libra into Diem, representatives of the initiative announced their desire to engage in servicing central bank digital currencies (CBDC).
The next wave of criticism hit the company at the end of 2021, against the backdrop of the launch of pilot testing of the Novi crypto wallet.
You will find a detailed chronology of events of the Meta crypto project and information about its transformations in our material.
Not everything is lost
Probably, Meta does not plan to completely abandon its crypto initiatives. This is indicated by the company’s interest in accelerating developments in the field of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. In particular, representatives of the organization are preparing the launch of an NFT marketplace.
There is also information on the network about plans to launch Meta crypto payments within the platforms controlled by the company. In particular, tools for conducting operations with digital assets will appear in the WhatsApp messenger.
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