Diem (digital currency)

Last updated

Diem
Diem logo.svg
Diem's logo
Denominations
Symbol
Development
White paper Diem whitepaper
Initial releaseCancelled [1]
Code repository github.com/diem/diem
Development statusAnnounced
Written in Rust
Developer(s) Diem Association
Source model Open source
License Apache License 2.0 [2]
Website
Website diem.com

Diem (formerly known as Libra) was a permissioned blockchain-based stablecoin payment system proposed by the American social media company Facebook. The plan also included a private currency implemented as a cryptocurrency.

Contents

The launch was originally planned to be in 2020, [3] [4] but only rudimentary experimental code was released. [5]

The project, currency and transactions would have been managed and cryptographically entrusted to the Diem Association, a membership organization of companies from payment, technology, telecommunication, online marketplace and venture capital, and nonprofits.

Before December 2020, the project was called "Libra", although this was changed to Diem following legal challenges regarding its name and logo. [6] [4]

The project generated backlash from government regulators in the European Union, the USA, other countries, and among the general public over monetary sovereignty, financial stability, privacy, and antitrust concerns which ultimately helped kill the project. [7]

The Diem Association (originally the Libra Association) shut down in January 2022 and sold the project to Silvergate Bank. Silvergate wrote off their Diem investment in January 2023. [8] [9] [10]

History

Morgan Beller started working on cryptocurrency and blockchain at Facebook in 2017, and was initially the only person working on Facebook's blockchain initiative. [11]

Facebook vice president David A. Marcus moved from Facebook Messenger to a new blockchain division in May 2018. [12] First reports of Facebook planning a cryptocurrency, with Marcus in charge, emerged a few days later. [13] By February 2019, there were more than 50 engineers working on the project. [14] Confirmation that Facebook intended a cryptocurrency first emerged in May 2019. [15] At this time it was known as "GlobalCoin" or "Facebook Coin". [16]

The project was formally announced on June 18, 2019, under the name Libra. [17] [18] The creators of the coin are listed as Morgan Beller, David Marcus and Kevin Weil (Novi's VP of Product). [11] The first release was planned for 2020. [4]

On July 15, 2019, Facebook announced the currency would not launch until all regulatory concerns had been met and Libra had the "appropriate approvals". [19] On September 18, 2019, during a meeting with top Senate Democratic leaders, Mark Zuckerberg said that Libra would not be launched anywhere in the world without first obtaining approval from United States regulators. [20] In October 2019 multiple companies left Libra Association: PayPal left on October 4, [21] eBay, Mastercard, Stripe, Visa and Mercado Pago followed on October 11, [22] [23] and Booking Holdings on October 14. [24]

According to a November 2020 report in the Financial Times , Libra would be launching a slimmed down plan that included the cryptocurrency being a stablecoin backed by the US dollar rather than a multiple currency collection. The newspaper also reported that the cryptocurrency would now be called Diem, which is Latin for "day". [25] In December 2020, Libra was rebranded as Diem, and the Libra Association renamed Diem Association. As of December 2020, Diem Association had 27 members. [25]

In January 2022, it was reported that the Diem Association was winding down, with Diem's assets being sold to the California based Silvergate Capital for a reported $200 million. [26] [27] Facebook was also reported to have planned to launch the token in the U.S. with it being issued by Silvergate, although the Federal Reserve and the United States Department of the Treasury were not supportive of the project. [28] [29]

In January 2023, Silvergate announced in their earnings call for Q4 2022 that they were writing down their entire investment in Diem. [30] Silvergate Bank was shut down in March 2023. [31]

Currency

The plan was for the Libra token to be backed by financial assets such as a basket of currencies, [32] and US Treasury securities in an attempt to avoid volatility. [33] Facebook announced that each of the partners would inject an initial US$10 million, so Libra had full asset backing on the day it opened. [34] As of January 2020, Libra was said to have dropped the idea of a mixed currency basket in favor of individual stablecoins pegged to individual currencies. [35]

Libra service partners, within the Libra Association, would create new Libra currency units based on demand. [34] Libra currency units would be retired as they were redeemed for conventional currency.

Initial reconciliation of transactions would be performed at each service partner, and the blockchain's distributed ledger would be used for reconciliation between service partners. [36] The intent was to help prevent everyone but members of the Libra Association from trying to extract and analyze data from the distributed ledger.

In contrast to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin which use permissionless blockchains, Libra was not planned to be decentralized, relying on trust in the Libra Association as "a de facto central bank". [37]

In September 2019, Facebook announced that the reserve basket would be made up of: 50% United States dollar, 18% Euro, 14% Japanese yen, 11% Pound sterling and 7% Singapore dollar. [38]

Libra considered using coins based on individual national currencies on the network, alongside the basket-based Libra token. This was first mooted publicly by David Marcus in October 2019, [39] and by Mark Zuckerberg in his October 2019 Senate testimony. [40] The idea was promoted again in March 2020. [41]

On April 16, 2020, Libra announced plans to create an infrastructure for multiple cryptocurrencies, the preponderance of which would be backed by individual fiat currencies, and said the association was in talks with regulators from Switzerland for a payments license. [42]

In May 2021, Diem announced that it had withdrawn its application to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority and said that it would instead seek approval with the US treasury to register as a money services business. [43]

Diem Association

Facebook established the Libra Association (later renamed to Diem Association) to oversee the currency, founded in Geneva, Switzerland. [44] As of December 2020, Diem Association included:

Seven other companies had been named as Libra Association members in the initial June 2019 announcement, but left before the first Libra meeting on October 14, 2019: Booking Holdings, eBay, Mastercard, Mercado Pago, PayPal, Stripe and Visa Inc. Visa chairman and CEO Alfred F. Kelly clarified in July that Visa had not joined, but had signed a nonbinding letter of intent; and that "no one has yet officially joined." He said that factors determining whether Visa would, in fact, join included "the ability of the association to satisfy all the requisite regulatory requirements." [48] Vodafone joined the association in October 2019, but left in January 2020, saying they preferred to work on their mobile banking subsidiary M-Pesa. [49]

Press coverage around the initial Libra announcement noted the absence of Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon and of any banks. [50] [51] [52] Banking executives had been reluctant to join due to uncertainties surrounding regulation and feasibility of the scheme. [53]

In late February 2020, e-commerce site Shopify [54] and cryptocurrency brokerage Tagomi [55] joined.

The association hoped to grow to 100 members with an equal vote. [56]

In late April 2020, the payment processing company, Checkout.com, announced they would be joining the association. [57] In May 2020, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, cryptocurrency investor Paradigm Operations and private equity firm Slow Ventures announced they would join the association. [58]

Libra Association was renamed to Diem Association on December 1, 2020, as part of the rebranding from Libra to Diem. [59]

Reception

The project faced criticism [50] [60] and opposition from central banks. [61] The use of a cryptocurrency and blockchain for the implementation was questioned. [45]

European Union regulatory response

The first regulator response to Libra came within minutes of the launch announcement, from French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, who was being interviewed on French radio station Europe 1. He said that Libra could not be allowed to become a sovereign currency, and would require strong consumer protections. [62]

Le Maire then warned the French Parliament of his concerns about Libra and privacy, money laundering and terrorism finance. He called on the central bank governors of the Group of Seven to prepare a report on Facebook's plans. [61]

Bank of England governor Mark Carney said there was a need to keep an "open mind" about new technology for money transfers, but "anything that works in this world will become instantly systemic and will have to be subject to the highest standards of regulation." [61]

German MEP Markus Ferber warned that Facebook could become a shadow bank. [61] His colleague MEP Stefan Berger sees Libra's power potential as a threat to the economic stability of the euro zone and its democracies: Libra could make Facebook its central bank. Berger argues in favor of the development of a European stablecoin in order to be able to offer a secure alternative to the Facebook currency. [63] Berger will be in charge of the European report of Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) which will serve as base for a regulatory framework for crypto-assets. [64]

On September 13, 2019, Le Maire stated that France would not allow development of Libra in the European Union, as it would have been a threat to the monetary sovereignty of states. He also spoke about the potential for abuse of marketing dominance and systemic financial risks as reasons for not allowing stablecoins to operate yet within the EU. [65]

According to a Reuters report, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said following a video conference of G7 finance ministers that Germany and Europe cannot accept Diem currency entry into the market while the regulatory risks are not adequately addressed. [66] Scholz stated that he does not support private-sector digital currencies, and his remarks could be detrimental to Diem and JPMorgan Coin.

Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People, stated at the Digital Finance Outreach 2020 Closing Conference that the European Union was preparing a new cryptocurrency regime that may include stricter requirements for "global stablecoin" projects like Libra. [67] In addition, Dombrovskis stated in his address that stablecoins that function on a global scale can "present new concerns" — they can disturb financial and monetary stability.

United States regulatory response

US regulators and politicians expressed concerns within hours of the mid-2019 announcement. Maxine Waters, Chairperson of the United States House Committee on Financial Services Committee asked Facebook to halt the development and launch of Libra, citing a list of recent scandals and that "the cryptocurrency market currently lacks a clear regulatory framework". [68] The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Democrats sent a letter to Facebook asking the company to stop development of Libra, citing concerns of privacy, national security, trading, and monetary policy. [69]

Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, testified before Congress on July 10, 2019, that the Fed had "serious concerns" as to how Libra would deal with "money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability." [70]

President Donald Trump tweeted on July 12, 2019, that "If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations." [71]

US regulators contacted Visa, PayPal, Mastercard and Stripe, asking for a complete overview of how Libra would fit into their anti-money-laundering compliance programs. [72]

Since several participants left the project in late 2019, the Libra Association worked to address concerns from United States regulators with the development of a "Libra 2.0" blueprint. [54]

According to CNBC , in 2021, Diem reportedly withdrawn its application for a Swiss payment license, intending to instead move its activities to the United States. Diem announced that it would relocate its operating headquarters from Geneva to Washington with an intend to establish its payment system in the United States. [73]

Other countries

David Marcus told the US Senate that the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner would oversee privacy for Libra, but the commissioner said that it had not heard from Facebook at all. [74]

The government of Japan began the process of investigating Libra and doing an analysis on the effect on Japan's monetary policy and financial regulation. In July 2019, Japanese officials formed a working committee, consisting of the Bank of Japan, the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Services Agency, to coordinate policies to address Libra's impact on regulation, monetary policy, tax, and payments settlement. [75] The working group would coordinate measures to handle Libra's influence on regulation, monetary policy, tax, and payments settlement. This would be done before the Group of Seven meeting in France between August 24 and 26, 2019. [76] [ needs update ]

Data protection regulators internationally issued a statement [77] asking Facebook to protect personal data of users, and to detail Libra's planned practices for handling personal data, in the light of "previous episodes where Facebook's handling of people's information has not met the expectations of regulators, or their own users." [78]

Finance Watch described Libra as a "huge risk to public monetary sovereignty" [79] and concluded that "Libra is a bad idea – for its users, for the stability of our financial system, and last but not least for our democracy." [80]

On September 16, 2019, officials from the Libra consortium, including J.P. Morgan and Facebook, met with officials from 26 central banks, including the Federal Reserve and Bank of England, in Basel, Switzerland and the meeting was chaired by European Central Bank board member Benoît Cœuré, a vocal Libra critic. [81]

Privacy concerns

Industry observers have speculated whether Libra would provide meaningful privacy to its users. [82] Facebook's plan was to let its subsidiary Novi Financial manage Libra for Facebook users, and Facebook executives had stated that Novi would not share account holder's purchase information with Facebook without authorization. [83] However, the system was also planned to include a friend-finder search function, and the use of this function would constitute permission for Novi to combine the account holder's transaction history with their Facebook account. [36]

In August 2019, according to CNBC, top data protection officials including Democratic FTC commissioner Rohit Chopra, U.K. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham, EU Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli, and other top regulators from Australia, Canada, Albania, and Burkina Faso in a joint statement expressed doubts over Facebook's proposed digital currency project Libra (Diem). [84] According to CNBC, Facebook confirmed that governments and regulators throughout the world were scrutinizing Libra. [84]

In general, consumer advocates and public interest groups have opposed Diem on privacy grounds and rejected the tethering of financial services to mass surveillance. [85]

Antitrust concerns

Scholars highlighted several antitrust risks associated with Diem, namely, a risk of collusion between association members, a risk of tying between Diem and Novi, and a risk of exclusivity agreements if Novi is required to use Diem within Facebook environment. [86]

Fake Libra websites

Facebook tried to police inaccurate information and fake Libra websites on its platform. [87] According to The Washington Post , nearly a dozen fake accounts, pages, and groups on Facebook and Instagram advertised themselves as legitimate centres for the Libra digital currency, in some cases trying to sell discounted Libra which was not yet accessible. Numerous of these counterfeit pages used the Facebook logo, images of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Libra's official marketing material. The growth of fake pages and groups devoted to Libra added to Facebook's difficulties with global authorities. [88]

Diem Association (formerly Libra Association) faced legal challenges as both the name and the logo of the digital currency were already in use within different territories.

Finco Services Inc filed a lawsuit with New York Southern District Court against Facebook, Inc., Novi Financial, Inc., Jlv, LLC and Character SF, LLC for an alleged trademark infringement [89] arising out of the use by the latter of a logo similar to the start-up bank operated by Finco Services, Inc. The plaintiff requested a preliminary and permanent injunctive relief as well as monetary relief from the defendants. [90] A settlement conference in this matter was scheduled for March 26, 2020, in the United States Courthouse, while the parties did not consent to conducting the proceedings before a magistrate judge and requested to be tried to a jury. [91]

In Europe, Libra Association filed an application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office for the registration of the word "LIBRA" as a verbal trademark. The proceeding already received five oppositions to registration from four European companies based mainly on the alleged likelihood of confusion with their prior trademarks. [92] The opposing companies are Lyra Network, Libra Internet Bank, Libri GmbH and Advanced New Technologies Co., Ltd. In April 2020, the parties would have reached the adversarial part of the opposition proceedings, unless a settlement was reached during the cooling-off period.

Implementation

Blockchain consensus

Diem would not rely on cryptocurrency mining. [45] Only members of Diem Association would have been able to process transactions via the permissioned blockchain.

Diem hoped to begin transitioning to a permissionless proof-of-stake system within five years; [18] although their own materials admitted that no solution existed "that can deliver the scale, stability, and security needed to support billions of people and transactions across the globe through a permissionless network." [93] [5]

Software

Diem source code was written in Rust and published as open source under the Apache License on GitHub.

In June 2019, Elaine Ou, an opinion writer at Bloomberg News , tried compiling and running the publicly released code for Libra. At the time, the software did little more than allow fake coins to be put in a wallet; almost none of the functionality outlined in the white paper was implemented, including "major architectural features that have yet to be invented." Ou was surprised that Facebook "would release software in such a state". [5]

Digital wallet

In June 2019, Facebook announced plans to release a digital wallet called Calibra in 2020, as a standalone app and also to integrate it within Messenger and WhatsApp. [3] In May 2020, Calibra was renamed Novi. [94] As of February 2021, Novi and Diem were not released yet and do not have a set release date. [1]

Move

Move is a statically-typed programming language originally developed for the Diem blockchain's smart contract and custom transactions system. It is compiled to bytecode and features resource-oriented programming with strong safety guarantees. [95]

The Move language was initially introduced in the Move white paper and has since been fully documented and implemented across multiple blockchain platforms. [96] An example of Move syntax from the original white paper shows its resource-handling capabilities:

publicmain(payee: address,amount: u64){letcoin: 0x0.Currency.Coin=0x0.Currency.withdraw_from_sender(copy(amount));0x0.Currency.deposit(copy(payee),move(coin));}

The language's key feature is the ability to define custom resource types with semantics inspired by linear logic: a resource can never be copied or implicitly discarded, only moved between program storage locations. These safety guarantees are enforced statically by Move's type system. [97] Following Diem's discontinuation, Move development has continued and evolved through implementations in other blockchain ecosystems including Aptos and Sui. [98]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Novi". novi.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021. When will Novi be available?
    Novi is currently being built. Sign up here to be one of the first to know about Novi.
  2. "Libra Software License". Github. Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Facebook's Calibra cryptocurrency wallet launches in 2020". Engadget. June 18, 2019. Archived from the original on June 18, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 "Facebook Unveils Libra Cryptocurrency, Sets Launch For 2020". NPR.org. Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 Ou, Elaine (June 20, 2019). "I Tried Using Facebook's Libra Blockchain. It Didn't Work". Bloomberg News . Archived from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  6. Kastrenakes, Jacob (December 1, 2020). "Libra cryptocurrency project changes name to Diem to distance itself from Facebook". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  7. "Facebook-funded cryptocurrency Diem winds down". BBC. February 1, 2022. Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  8. Rudegeair, Peter; Hoffman, Liz (January 27, 2022). "WSJ News Exclusive | Facebook's Cryptocurrency Venture to Wind Down, Sell Assets". Wall Street Journal.
  9. "Silvergate stock drops 40% after withdrawals spark cost cuts (NYSE:SI) | Seeking Alpha". January 5, 2023.
  10. "US bank Silvergate hit with $8bn in crypto withdrawals". BBC News. January 6, 2023.
  11. 1 2 Rodriguez, Salvador (July 20, 2019). "Meet Morgan Beller, the 26-year-old woman behind Facebook's plan to make its own currency". CNBC Tech. Archived from the original on July 20, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  12. Liao, Shannon (May 8, 2018). "Facebook is creating a mysterious blockchain division". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  13. Gartenberg, Chaim (May 11, 2018). "Facebook reportedly plans to launch its own cryptocurrency". The Verge. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  14. Popper, Nathaniel; Isaac, Mike (February 28, 2019). "Facebook and Telegram Are Hoping to Succeed Where Bitcoin Failed". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  15. Andriotis, AnnaMaria; Hoffman, Liz; Rudegeair, Peter; Horwitz, Jeff (May 2, 2019). "Facebook Building Cryptocurrency-Based Payments System" . The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on June 18, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  16. Social Media Monopolies and Cryptocurrencies: Facebook's Proposed Coin. Archived October 18, 2019, at the Wayback Machine Cybersecurity, Privacy, & Networks eJournal. Social Science Research Network. (SSRN). Accessed June 19, 2019.
  17. Isaac, Mike; Popper, Nathaniel (June 18, 2019). "Facebook Plans Global Financial System Based on Cryptocurrency". The New York Times . Archived from the original on May 19, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  18. 1 2 Constine, Josh (June 18, 2019). "Facebook announces Libra cryptocurrency: All you need to know". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on May 4, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  19. Bain, Ben; Weinstein, Austin (July 16, 2019). "Facebook Says Libra Won't Launch Until Regulators Satisfied". Bloomberg News . Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  20. Romm, Tony (September 19, 2019). "Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg seeks to reassure wary lawmakers about Libra, elections in rare D.C. trip". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  21. Rooney, Lauren Feiner, Kate (October 4, 2019). "PayPal withdraws from Facebook's libra cryptocurrency". CNBC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. Feiner, Lauren (October 11, 2019). "Facebook's libra cryptocurrency coalition is falling apart as eBay, Visa, Mastercard and Stripe jump ship". CNBC. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  23. Brandom, Russell (October 11, 2019). "Facebook's Libra Association crumbling as Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and others exit". The Verge. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  24. Light, Joe; Carville, Olivia (October 14, 2019). "Libra Loses a Quarter of Its Members as Booking Holdings Exits". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on October 14, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  25. 1 2 Morse, Andrew (December 1, 2020). "Facebook's controversial cryptocurrency gets a new name: Diem". CNET . Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  26. Hoffman, Peter Rudegeair and Liz (January 27, 2022). "Facebook's Cryptocurrency Venture to Wind Down, Sell Assets". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  27. "Facebook's cryptocurrency failure came after internal conflict and regulatory pushback". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  28. "Facebook's Diem on brink of collapse amid sale negotiations". POLITICO. January 27, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  29. "Facebook Libra: the inside story of how the company's cryptocurrency dream died". Financial Times. March 10, 2022. Archived from the original on March 10, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  30. "Silvergate stock drops 40% after withdrawals spark cost cuts (NYSE:SI) | Seeking Alpha". January 5, 2023.
  31. Church, Steven (March 8, 2023). "Silvergate Slides on Plan to Wind Down Bank Operations and Liquidate". Bloomberg News . Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  32. Caroline Binham; Chris Giles; David Keohane (June 18, 2019). "Facebook's Libra currency draws instant response from regulators". Financial Times. Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  33. Duffy, Clare (June 18, 2019). "Facebook wants to make cryptocurrency mainstream. Here's how". CNN. Archived from the original on November 20, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  34. 1 2 Jeff John Roberts (June 18, 2019). "Facebook Announces Project Libra, Its Wildly Ambitious Plan to Bring Cryptocurrency to the Masses". Fortune magazine . Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019. The Libra blockchain—like other blockchains—will provide a tamper-proof record of transactions on the network. But, unlike Bitcoin and other public blockchains, only authorized bodies—in this case, foundation members—will be allowed to run a node.
  35. "Facebook-Kryptowährung: Libra erwägt Verzicht auf Devisenkorb". FinanceFWD (in German). January 27, 2020. Archived from the original on May 28, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  36. 1 2 Robert Hackett (June 18, 2019). "Facebook Cryptocurrency: Calibra's Privacy Implications". Fortune magazine . Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019. People who use Calibra will have to trust Facebook's internal firewalls and security measures, of course. And there's a lot of data here that hackers and snoops might like to access. In order to abide by standard "know-your-customer" and "anti-money laundering" laws, Calibra will have to verify people's identities through a thorough process, collecting government-issued IDs and other personal details and documentation. It will be incumbent upon Calibra to keep this data confidential and secure.
  37. Brandom, Russell (June 18, 2019). "Facebook's cryptocurrency has a trust problem". The Verge. Archived from the original on October 19, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  38. Bartz, Tim (September 20, 2019). "Absicherung von Kryptogeld: Facebook verzichtet bei Libra auf chinesische Währung". Spiegel Online. Archived from the original on October 3, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  39. Shalal, Andrea (October 20, 2019). "Facebook open to currency-pegged stablecoins for Libra project". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 5, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  40. "Rev Transcription Editor" . Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  41. "Facebook Weighs Libra Revamp to Address Regulatory Concerns". Bloomberg.com. March 3, 2020. Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  42. Wagner, Kurt; Kharif, Olga (April 16, 2020). "Facebook-backed Libra plans multiple single-currency coins". Fortune . Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on May 28, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  43. Murphy, Hannah (May 12, 2021). "Facebook abandons plan to run digital currency from Switzerland". Archived from the original on May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  44. "Libra Association | A not-for-profit organization". libra.org. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  45. 1 2 3 Cellan-Jones, Rory (June 18, 2019). "Why Facebook wants to be money's future". BBC News . Archived from the original on March 7, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  46. "Shopify joins Libra Association". news.shopify.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  47. Londra (February 21, 2020). "Shopify Libra Birliğine Katıldı". Muhabbit (in Turkish). Archived from the original on February 21, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  48. "Visa, Inc. (V) Q3 2019 Earnings Call: Corrected Transcript" (PDF). Visa, Inc. July 23, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  49. Reichert, Corinne (January 21, 2020). "Vodafone has exited Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency". CNET. Archived from the original on January 22, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  50. 1 2 Kaminska, Izabella (June 18, 2019). "Alphaville's Libra cheat sheet". Financial Times. Archived from the original on May 2, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  51. Surane, Jennifer; Verhage, Julie; Wagner, Kurt (June 18, 2019). "Facebook's Cryptocurrency Project: Who's In and Who's Out". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on October 20, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  52. Levy, Steven; Barker, Gregory (June 18, 2019). "The Ambitious Plan Behind Facebook's Cryptocurrency, Libra". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028. Archived from the original on October 26, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  53. Murphy, Hannah (June 18, 2019). "Facebook unveils global digital coin called Libra". Financial Times. Archived from the original on September 19, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  54. 1 2 Murphy, Hannah (February 21, 2020). "Shopify joins Facebook's Libra currency association". Archived from the original on March 1, 2020. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  55. "Facebook's Libra Association adds crypto prime broker Tagomi". February 26, 2020. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  56. Morse, Andrew. "Here's what you need to know about Libra, Facebook's cryptocurrency". CNET. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  57. Staff Writer (April 28, 2020). "Payments processor Checkout.com to join Facebook's Libra Association". Reuters . Reuters. Archived from the original on April 28, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  58. Choudhury, Saheli Roy (May 15, 2020). "Singapore state investor Temasek joins Libra, Facebook's digital currency project". CNBC. Archived from the original on May 18, 2020. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  59. "Announcing the name Diem. Executive leadership in place in preparation for launch". Diem Association. December 1, 2020. Archived from the original on December 3, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  60. Kaminska, Izabella (June 18, 2019). "Zuckerberg: The man who would be monetary king" . The Financial Times. Archived from the original on September 19, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  61. 1 2 3 4 Marsh, Alastair (June 18, 2019). "France Calls for Central Bank Review of Facebook Token". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on May 2, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  62. Lesaffre, Clément (June 18, 2018). "Facebook va créer sa monnaie : "Nous allons demander des garanties", prévient Bruno Le Maire" (in French). Europe 1. Archived from the original on October 31, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  63. FOCUS Online. "Müssen schnell sein: CDU-Europaabgeordneter plant digitalen Euro". Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  64. "Verfasser der EU-Berichterstattung zur Regulierung des Kryptomarktes". Facebook (in German). Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  65. "France Finance Minister Calls Facebook Libra a Threat to 'Monetary Sovereignty'". News18. September 13, 2019. Archived from the original on September 16, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  66. Thomas Escritt. "Facebook's renamed cryptocurrency is still 'wolf in sheep's clothing': German Finance Minister". U.S. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  67. "Speech by Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis at the Digital Finance Outreach 2020 Closing conference". June 23, 2020.
  68. Wong, Queenie (June 18, 2019). "US lawmaker wants Facebook to halt its Libra cryptocurrency project". CNET . Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  69. "Committee Democrats Call on Facebook to Halt Cryptocurrency Plans". U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Democrats. July 2, 2019. Archived from the original on July 3, 2019. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  70. Popper, Nathaniel; Isaac, Mike; Smialek, Jeanna (July 10, 2019). "Fed Chair Raises 'Serious Concerns' About Facebook's Cryptocurrency Project". The New York Times . Archived from the original on July 10, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  71. Murphy, Hannah (July 12, 2019). "Donald Trump hits out at Facebook's Libra and bitcoin". Financial Times. Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  72. Rudegeair, AnnaMaria Andriotis and Peter (October 2, 2019). "Visa, Mastercard, Others Reconsider Involvement in Facebook's Libra Network". WSJ. Archived from the original on October 5, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  73. Browne, Ryan (May 12, 2021). "Facebook-backed crypto project Diem abandons Swiss license application, will move to the U.S." CNBC. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  74. Schulze, Elizabeth (July 16, 2019). "Swiss group that's supposed to oversee privacy for Libra says it hasn't heard from Facebook at all". CNBC. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  75. "Japan sets up working group on impact of Facebook's Libra ahead of G7". Reuters. July 13, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  76. Hill, Paul (July 13, 2019). "Japan becomes the latest country to investigate Facebook's Libra". Neowin. Reuters. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  77. "Joint statement on global privacy expectations of the Libra network" (PDF). Information Commissioner's Office. August 5, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 5, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  78. Murphy, Hannah (August 5, 2019). "Facebook's cryptocurrency raises privacy questions, say regulators". Financial Times. Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  79. Grandjean, Pablo (August 14, 2019). "Don't let Facebook take over the financial system". Finance Watch . Archived from the original on August 14, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  80. Stiefmüller, Christian M. (July 22, 2019). "Libra: Heads I win – tails you lose" (PDF). Finance Watch . Archived (PDF) from the original on August 14, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  81. Browne, Ryan (September 16, 2019). "Facebook and JP Morgan meet with global central banks to discuss cryptocurrencies". CNBC . Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  82. Jeff John Roberts (June 18, 2019). "Facebook's Project Libra: 5 Things to Know About the Cryptocurrency". Fortune magazine . Archived from the original on June 18, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019. So, in theory, only Novi will have a record of your transactions. But many Novi users may decide to use its integrated Facebook friend-finding feature, and if they do, their data will be combined.
  83. Jacob Passy (June 19, 2019). "Why Facebook's Libra coin could become a big pain in your wallet". Market Watch . Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019. Libra will be a "stablecoin," linked to the value of other currencies, unlike other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin BTC, -4.27% Consumers who use Facebook's Messenger service, WhatsApp or a stand-alone app will be able to access Libra through a digital wallet managed by new Facebook subsidiary Calibra.
  84. 1 2 Schulze, Elizabeth (August 6, 2019). "Facebook's Libra plans are under fire again – this time from global privacy regulators". CNBC. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  85. Carrillo, Raúl (June 25, 2020). "Banking on Surveillance: The Libra Black Paper". Americans for Financial Reform. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  86. Schrepel, Thibault (April 24, 2020). "Libra: A Concentrate of 'Blockchain Antitrust'". Michigan Law Review Online. SSRN   3574684 . Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  87. "Libra fakes undermine Facebook's cryptocurrency charm offensive". Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  88. "Facebook's Libra currency spawns a wave of fakes, including on Facebook itself". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  89. "Facebook sued over Calibra's look-alike logo". TheVerge. October 11, 2019. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  90. "Facebook's Subsidiary Calibra Is Being Sued for Trademark Infringement By Mobile Banking Developer Current". October 13, 2019. Archived from the original on February 4, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  91. "Finco Services, Inc. v. Facebook Inc. et al". October 10, 2019. Archived from the original on February 4, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  92. "LIBRA 018083389". June 18, 2019. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  93. "Libra White Paper | Blockchain, Association, Reserve". Libra.org. Archived from the original on May 16, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  94. Porter, Jon (May 26, 2020). "Facebook renames Calibra digital wallet to Novi". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  95. "Move: A Language With Programmable Resources · Libra". developers.libra.org. Archived from the original on April 22, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  96. "Move Language Repository". GitHub. Retrieved May 1, 2023. This was the home of the Move language from inception to ~2022. This repository is no longer maintained, but development continues in github.com/move-language/move-on-aptos and github.com/move-language/move-sui.
  97. "Move: A Language With Programmable Resources · Libra". developers.libra.org. Archived from the original on April 22, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  98. "Move Language Repository". GitHub. Retrieved May 1, 2023.