Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has slammed Facebook’s failed cryptocurrency project, Diem, stating that the company, recently renamed Meta Inc., would have fared better if it had focussed its resources on improving the Bitcoin network.
Speaking at the MicroStrategy World conference today, Dorsey disclosed that Meta was not too committed to Diem, initially named Libra, instead the social media giant was focused on luring more users to its platforms, such as Whatsapp, Facebook, and Instagram.
“They tried to create a currency that was owned by Facebook — probably for the right reasons, probably for noble reasons — but there were also some reasons that would indicate trying to get more and more people onto the Facebook ecosystem,” They did that instead of using an open protocol and standard like Bitcoin.”
“Hopefully they learned a lot, but I think there was a lot of wasted effort and time, Those two years or three years, or however long it’s been, could have been spent making Bitcoin more accessible for more people around the world, which would also benefit their Messenger product and Instagram and WhatsApp.”
Dorsey, the CEO of Block Inc, said he hopes the Meta team learned from their past mistakes with the Diem project, adding that the time could have been used to advance Bitcoin, making the cryptocurrency more accessible, which could have been beneficial to Facebook’s ecosystem.
Facebook’s Diem Project Journey
Recall that in mid-2019, Facebook disclosed its plan to launch the Diem project by publishing its whitepaper.
The cryptocurrency, which is expected to be used for cross-border settlements, is backed by a basket of assets, including major fiats and government securities.
However, right from when Diem’s whitepaper was published, it came under heavy regulatory scrutiny due to Meta’s involvement with the project.
Regulators, including the European Union, feared that the Meta Diem project could undermine the world’s global financial system and eliminate all forms of competition from other cryptocurrencies.
Meta, still poised to launch the cryptocurrency at the time, changed the project’s name and also onboarded top regulatory chiefs to its advisory board.
Diem Project Ends
However, regulators were still not convinced, forcing the project to come to an unfortunate end yesterday.
Diem’s team announced yesterday that Silvergate Capital Corp would acquire its remaining assets for a bid of around $200 million.
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