What happened to Facebook’s cryptocurrency?
As early as 2019, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to US politicians for their own crypto currency called Libra, which should be universally applicable on the world market. An implementation initially failed because important partners withdrew and there were data protection concerns. But the project was never doomed. At the end of 2020, the cryptocurrency was revived by the Diem Association, which operates independently from Facebook, with the new name Diem. The social media giant continues to be an important partner of the association, which consists of a total of 27 companies. Like Ethereum or Bitcoin, the Diem is also based on blockchain technology, but in contrast to other cyber currencies, it should be used as a so-called stablecoin, a crypto currency that is less prone to price fluctuations in value.
According to »Verge«, Facebook is pushing ahead with the introduction of its digital payment system with Facebook Pay, in which Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp are involved, and for which an expansion to third-party platforms such as Shopify is planned. The start is to take place in August. According to information made available on the Facebook Pay website, the service will be rolled out to other apps and countries in addition to selected countries in order to make it accessible to more people over time. It seems possible that Facebook Pay will become part of the future digital payment system with the new digital currency Diem. Allegedly, a pilot project of the US dollar-linked Diem is to start this year. It could then also be used as a means of payment by the other partner companies of the Diem Association, including Spotify and Uber. The long-term goal of the Diem Association is the everyday use of the Diem as a universal means of payment outside of the Facebook cosmos, for example at the supermarket checkout. There is great pressure worldwide for the use of digital currencies, as shown by the pilot project recently started by the EU to implement the digital euro in 2026 at the earliest.