Diem Selling Assets to Silvergate for $200M, Ending Facebook’s Stablecoin Project

By Andrew Hayward

Editor's Note: The Diem Association confirmed its sale to Silvergate in a press release on January 31.

Facebook's stablecoin ambitions are dead.

Following Tuesday's report that the Diem Association was looking to sell off its assets and intellectual property, The Wall Street Journal reports today that Silvergate Capital will buy its assets and IP for $200 million.

According to the Journal, which cites an unnamed person familiar with the situation, the Diem Association will "wind down" its plans to launch a stablecoin following the sale to the crypto-focused, California-based bank. Silvergate was previously announced as an issuer of the stablecoin, but that plan never came to fruition.

If true, the report signals an unceremonious end to Facebook's (or Meta's) ambitions in the crypto space. Facebook initially launched the Libra Association in 2019 alongside a smattering of tech and financial allies, with plans to launch a crypto stablecoin backed by a basket of global currencies.

Pushback came swiftly as regulators questioned Facebook's ambitions and approach. Partners such as PayPal, Visa, eBay, Stripe, and Mastercard all bailed out in late 2019, but Facebook continued ahead. It rebranded Libra to Diem, and rebranded crypto wallet Calibra to Novi, and shifted the approach for Diem to that of a dollar-backed stablecoin.

But the status of the project became unclear in recent months as updates were fewer and fewer and top talent departed the Diem Association, including top exec David Marcus at the end of 2021.

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