Libra stablecoin rebrands to Diem, to launch early next year
LIbra association formed by Facebook in 2019, comprising 27 governing members, distances itself from a multi-currency stablecoin, Libra cryptocurrency. Instead, they are preparing to launch Diem early next year.
The project, Diem, as announced by Financial Times, will be a single currency stable coin, unlike the original proposed Libra, Diem will be pegged to Dollar while the team may be launching other individual pegged currencies afterward.
Diem, a Latin name given to the rebranded libra, is positioned to meet regulatory guidelines. While Diem is technically ready, Levery said, the team is awaiting a license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). When asked whether the license will be ready, he declined a response saying it is left for the institution to decide a date.
“That then brings you back to the question of why change the name. … One of the reasons is that the original name, I think, was tied to an earlier iteration of the project that [saw a] difficult reception from regulators around the world, and we’ve changed the proposition dramatically, Levey said.
There are several changes to the initial Libra launch. Such include governance and strategic compliance to regulations.
The finalized leadership includes previously announced CEO Stuart Levey, Managing Director James Emmett, Chief Compliance Officer Sterling Daines, Chief Financial Officer Ian Jenkins, and General Counsel Saumya Bhavsar. Newly announced are Dahlia Malkhi as chief technology officer, Christy Clark as chief of staff, Steve Bunnell as a chief legal officer, and Kiran Raj as executive vice president for growth and innovation and deputy general counsel.
Talking about the importance of blockchain, Levery said, We think that there are technological and governance advantages from having a blockchain. It permits innovation and collaboration in the open-source space that we think adds real potential to the overall project, it adds collaboration and innovation, and frankly, one of the things I love about it is there’ll be use cases developed and innovations that we at the Diem, Libra Association would never have thought of ourselves,”
Okereke has a passion for researching blockchain and cryptocurrency. He enjoys creating long form educational content to inform others on the opportunities in this space.