App pull – focus on the USA: Facebook’s cryptocurrency Diem leaves Switzerland

Diem Networks GmbH has withdrawn an advanced payment system application in Switzerland, Finma announced Wednesday. Deem Group plans to launch the payment system outside the United States, as the project will target the United States and depend on the US dollar. As a result, Diem only wants to connect state financial service providers with the system for now.

Although Finma approval is no longer necessary for the new plans, Deem was able to take advantage of “an extensive licensing process in Switzerland and constructive feedback,” said Deem’s CEO, Stuart Levy, in a statement. Finma brought together over a dozen other organizers to review the project.

Libra should give everyone access to financial services

Diem cryptocurrency was originally called Libra and was launched by Facebook. It should have been the world’s first purely digital currency. CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the US Congress in 2019 that sending money should be as easy as sending a text message. “More than a billion people in the world do not have access to a bank account.” If the right system is in place, they can get that access via their smartphones, according to the Facebook head.

The Libra Association was founded in Geneva, and in addition to Facebook’s Calibra, PayPal, Ebay, Uber, and Spotify, among others, have joined. The license application was submitted to FINMA in April 2020. The Libra digital currency was originally intended to represent a basket of international currencies. But the project soon felt resistance to regulators and central banks, who feared for state sovereignty.

At the end of 2020, the Al Mezan project was completely rebuilt and renamed as Deem. In the beginning, there should only be what is called a stable currency, with the dime dollar being a regular US dollar. The next step is a strategic shift to the United States of America, where the company has entered into a partnership with Silvergate Capital Corporation.