Diem Stablecoin Project, Backed by Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Sold to Silvergate

Due to long-fought battles with regulatory authorities, Meta’s stablecoin Diem, previously known as Libra, has been already abandoned earlier this year. However, on January 31th, the Diem Association announced that all their related assets will be sold to Silvergate.

As Diem was going to be a US-based cryptocurrency, it would have been a USD equivalent stablecoin, potentially a competitor to the likes of USDT and USDC.

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With that being said, the project seemed to have failed from the very start. The initial project called Libra was already clouded by regulations and fears from Congress over concerns for money laundering.

Likewise, after rebranding to Diem and moving towards creating stablecoins, the company faced even more pressure, with multiple employees leaving shortly after. Therefore, there was no choice but to discontinue the project.

According to the official announcement by Diem, the company highlighted its success at developing the stablecoin, with some regulators even calling it the "best-designed stablecoin project the US Government had seen." However, Diem was not able to achieve the proper goals for the project to move forward:

"Despite giving us positive substantive feedback on the design of the network, it nevertheless became clear from our dialogue with federal regulators that the project could not move ahead.  As a result, the best path forward was to sell the Diem Group's assets, as we have done today to Silvergate."

On the other hand, Diem wasn’t liquidated but rather sold to the Silvergate bank that might instigate the revival of the cryptocurrency project. Based on the report, the crypto-focused bank is expected to bring a new perspective to the stablecoin project, and take Diem further than ever.

Aaron S., Editor-In-Chief

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