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Facebook's Novi launched its retail payment app yesterday (October 19) going with Paxos' USDP stablecoin as its transactional currency while it awaits regulatory approval for its own Diem stablecoin. However, almost immediately, US Senate Democrats addressed a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg questioning the company's credibility with crypto, and calling for the immediate discontinuance of the Novi pilot and a commitment not to bring Diem to market. Diem replied by clarifying that Diem is an independent organization with Facebook's Novi being just one of more than two dozen members of the Diem Association, so that Novi's pilot with Paxos is unrelated to Diem. The response went on to say that "When Diem comes to market [Diem] will do so having reflected the feedback of regulators from around the world and with confidence that Diem's payment system is secure, will protect consumers, and will combat financial crime."

The Libra Association is changing its name to Diem to denote "a new day" for the project, as it gears up for the potential 2021 launch of a single, dollar-pegged stablecoin. The organization also finalized its leadership team, which includes Dahlia Malkhi as chief technology officer, Christy Clark as chief of staff, Steve Bunnell as chief legal officer and Kiran Raj as executive vice president for growth and innovation and deputy general counsel. Diem also recommitted to not proceeding until it has received regulatory approval, including a payment systems license for the operational subsidiary from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). https://www.diem.com/en-us/updates/diem-association/

The Meta Platform-backed Diem Association is reportedly weighing a sale of its assets as a way to return capital to its investor members. Diem is in discussions with investment bankers about how best to sell its intellectual property and find a new home for the engineers who developed the technology, cashing out whatever value remains in its once-ambitious Diem coin venture. The Association struck an arrangement with Silvergate Capital to issue Diem, but resistance from the U.S. Fed apparently dealt the effort a final blow.

Facebook's Diem project is shifting its main operations from Switzerland to the United States, and withdrawing its application for a license from Switzerland's FINMA, as it is not required under the new model. Diem will partner with Caliafornia state-chartered Sivergate Bank who will become the exclusive issuer of Diem's USD stablecoins and will manage the USD reserve. And Diem Networks US will register as a money service business (MSB) with the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Diem is offering a pre-sale discount for early investors at projectdiem.io. Anyone "can participate in the birth of diem and be one of the first buyers. Buy diem coins now with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum, and bitcoin cash."

Facebook could be in hot legal water after rebranding its upcoming crypto project to Diem - a name already taken by a London fintech. Finance app Diem is threatening to sue Facebook and its partners for copying the name, telling Sifted it is preparing to take action. The Diem app allows consumers to sell their possessions instantly, rather than waiting for bidders on eBay; offering a digital pawnbroker of sorts. Users also get their own DIEM debit cards and accounts, creating what the company calls a 'Bank of Things.'

Crypto custodian Fireblocks and payments platform First Digital Assets Group are providing connectivity and support to Diem, the global stablecoin and payments system formerly known as Libra. They will provide the digital plumbing to allow financial service providers such as banks, exchanges, payment service providers (PSPs) and eWallets to plug into Diem on day one. Diem plans to emerge around the end of this quarter, with a modest minimum viable project based around a U.S. dollar stablecoin.

Facebook could be in hot legal water after rebranding its upcoming crypto project to Diem - a name already taken by a London fintech. Finance app Diem is threatening to sue Facebook and its partners for copying the name, telling Sifted it is preparing to take action. The Diem app allows consumers to sell their possessions instantly, rather than waiting for bidders on eBay; offering a digital pawnbroker of sorts. Users also get their own DIEM debit cards and accounts, creating what the company calls a 'Bank of Things.'

The testnet for Diem reached over 50 million transactions on January 27, data from blockchain explorer inDiem shows. It operates at an average throughput of over 3 transactions per second (tps). While sounding fast, this is much slower than transactions on both Bitcoin (4.6 tps) and Ethereum (15 tps), and much slower to the speeds on upcoming networks like Solana (65,000 tps). In terms of testnet users, over 221,000 individual addresses have interacted with Diem in some capacity.

Facebook's Novi digital wallet app is being rolled out a small pilot in the United States and Guatemala. With it, people can send and receive money instantly, securely, and with no fees. It will use the Pax Dollar (USDP) stablecoin through partnerships with Paxos and Coinbase. A small cohort of users in both countries will be able to download the Novi app on iPhone or Android devices, sign up with valid government-issued ID, and add money to their accounts with a debit card. According to CEO David Marcus, USDP was chosen because it's been operating successfully for over three years and has important regulatory and consumer protection attributes. He also made it clear that Novi's support for the larger-scale Diem project hasn't changed and they intend to launch Novi with Diem once it receives regulatory approval and goes live. https://www.novi.com/file/pilot-version-of-novi-now-available

Celo, the open-source blockchain payments outfit taking on the Facebook-led Diem, has received $20 million in backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Greenfield One, and Electric Capital.

"The Diem Association, the Meta Platforms-led enterprise that was looking to issue a new, user friendly stablecoin, is selling its technology to Silvergate Capital for $200 million, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unnamed source."

Silvergate Bank confirmed that it's purchasing Diem's development, deployment and operations tools, as well as tools "for running a blockchain-based payment network" for remittances and other applications. The Diem Association, the stablecoin project from Meta Platforms, will "begin the process of winding down" both the group and its subsidiaries over the next few weeks. Silvergate Bank described Diem's work as running "in a pre-launch phase." Silvergate CEO Alan Lane said they hope to launch a stablecoin by the end of this year.

Silvergate Bank confirmed that it's purchasing Diem's development, deployment and operations tools, as well as tools "for running a blockchain-based payment network" for remittances and other applications. The Diem Association, the stablecoin project from Meta Platforms, will "begin the process of winding down" both the group and its subsidiaries over the next few weeks. Silvergate Bank described Diem's work as running "in a pre-launch phase."

Facebook's digital wallet, Novi, could abandon the Diem stablecoin in favor of fiat money if regulators do not change their tune, says David Marcus, head of Facebook Financial and Novi. The current iteration of the project involves the issue of a single stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, versus the original plan to issue a series of stablecoins backed by individual traditional currencies, as well as a token based on the currency-pegged stablecoins. Marcus claims that US authorities' "hostility" to Facebook's move into payments, is "profoundly un-American" and that the firm deserve a "fair shot" while also pointing out that it is already well embedded in the sector.

"The remainder of the Diem [which started out as Libra] Facebook [now Meta] backed cryptocurrency project is officially shutting down. Novi -- a money-transfer service using the company's own cryptocurrency digital wallet -- will end on September 1.  Both the Novi app and Novi on WhatsApp will no longer be available. Starting July 21, users will no longer be able to add money to their accounts, and users are advised to withdraw their balance as soon as possible. Users won't be able to access their transaction history or other data after the pilot ends."

US-based crypto-focused Silvergate Bank, has cut 40% of its total staff or about 200 employees and written off the $196 million related to its acquisition of the technology and assets of Diem Association from Meta, parking its plans to launch a blockchain-based payment platform. The bank was hit with outflows of around $8.1 billion in digital asset deposits during the fourth quarter's FTX debacle, which required the sale of $5.2 billion of debt securities at a loss of $718 million. However, Silvergate's Exchange Network Platform continued to operate with an average daily trade volume of $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, rising from $1.2 billion in the previous quarter.

It was unclear at the beginning of the 20th century which of the hundreds of automakers would win the race to replace the horse and buggy. Now, who knows whether bitcoin, ethereum, or diem, or some yet-to-be-invented digital currency will win out long term. For now, the bitcoin boom may best be viewed as a canary in the coal mine.

Facebook's Diem/Libra testnet has been live for over a month as the Libra Association prepares for the next stage with broader participation among members. The latest update from the blockchain explorer finds the network performing at an average of six transactions per second (TPS), with the highest reported figure of 24 TPS. In comparison, Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains execute close to four and 13 TPS, respectively. On the other hand, VISA support 1,700 transactions each second.

Money is too important to be left to central bankers. At the end of World War I, French prime minister Georges Clemenceau said, "War is too important to be left to the generals." Similarly, I feel that money is too important to be left to central bankers. A free society has so much to gain from the modernization of our financial system that could be brought about by crypto. But it has so much to lose if it doesn't have a say in what values are going to be encoded in the future of money, whether it's non-sovereign money of the likes of Diem or whether it's sovereign money in the form of a digital dollar.