Libra is dead, long live the Diem.
The association responsible for launching the digital currency supported by Facebook and its partners has decided to change its name.
The principle of a Latin name remains: it will therefore be the Diem ("day").
After the bronca triggered among states, central banks and regulators by the presentation of the first global digital currency project, the association seeks to highlight the project's independence from the social network and to obtain the regulatory green light.
The name change is part of this new strategy.
“
The original name was linked to a first iteration of the project which received a difficult reception from regulators.
We have radically changed this proposal,
”explained the new CEO of the association Stuart Levey, a former undersecretary for Terrorism under the Bush and Obama administrations, who joined HSBC bank.
"Facebook is an essential member"
“
Facebook is an essential member of the association,
” Stuart Levey told Reuters.
We are not trying to cut all ties, far from it.
This (the name change) must mean that the association operates autonomously and independently,
”he added.
Facebook had also changed the original name of its payment division.
Calibra became Novi Financial last May.
Its director, David Marcus, is one of the five members of the board of directors of the Diem association.
Stuart Levey confirmed that the Diem currency will first launch a first digital asset, pegged only to the dollar, as revealed by the Financial Times last week.
The association had reviewed its ambitions in a second white paper devoted to its project published last April.
“
The libra will simply be a digital composite of some of these stable cryptocurrencies (…) which can be used as an efficient international settlement currency
,” the new version specified.
No comments on the calendar
On the other hand, Stuart Levey refused to comment on the launch schedule mentioned by the British daily, namely possibly from January.
The launch will only take place after obtaining a license as a payment system from the Swiss financial market supervisory authority, Finma, for which the association submitted an application last April.
Diem aims to distinguish itself from other cryptocurrencies by focusing on aspects of concern to regulators and Western governments, including sanctions controls and financial crime, explained the CEO of the Diem association.