- Meta is considering selling Diem, according to insiders
- Bloomberg spoke to individuals on the inside who said that Meta is discussing how to sell Diem’s intellectual property
- Diem was announced as Libra back in 2019, but the project has faltered badly ever since
Two and a half years after bursting onto the cryptocurrency scene, Meta’s (then Facebook’s) Diem (then Calibra) project looks like it could be on the verge of an untimely end. According to Bloomberg, Meta Platforms Inc. is considering selling off the intellectual property associated with the project after failing in its goals of introducing a platform-wide cryptocurrency. The sale is said to be considered one of the few remaining viable ways in which investors can get their money back, with Diem falling far short of the initial goals for Libra.
Meta Undress Pressure to Return Investor Funds
Bloomberg cites “people familiar with the matter” as saying that Meta is “weighing a sale of its assets” and is receiving advice from investment bankers as to how best to sell the intellectual property relating to Diem. Meta is apparently keen to monetize whatever aspects of the faltering Diem project it can, with the additional problem of finding new homes for the engineers who developed the technology.
Diem is now a pale imitation of what Libra wanted to be, and it seems that Meta’s Novi project is likely to usurp it in terms of development and adoption in the future, potentially bringing an ignominious end to what was supposed to be a momentous shift in the machinery of global finance.
News Breaks After David Marcus Departure
One of those who of course won’t need to be rehomed is the project’s lead David Marcus who saw the writing on the wall left the project at the start of December last year, labelling the work on Libra/Diem as “mission-driven and intellectually stimulating”.
The news that Diem is on the verge of collapse just weeks after Marcus departed isn’t a surprise – project leaders rarely leave so close to launch if everything is going as planned.
