Despite US politicians’ worries, Diem continued to develop the Novi wallet while distancing itself from Facebook. Diem, a Facebook-backed cryptocurrency project, has distanced itself from the social media giant in response to the US Senate’s effort to halt the introduction of the Novi wallet.
The cryptocurrency project unveiled the Novi wallet yesterday, promising to “let consumers transfer and receive money swiftly, securely, and without incurring costs.” This was greeted with vehement resistance from US senators, who issued an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg urging him to abandon the digital wallet idea.
Members of the United States Senate Banking Committee stated in a letter that they are expressing their “strongest opposition to Facebook’s revived effort to launch a cryptocurrency and digital wallet,” while pleading with Facebook to “immediately discontinue the Novi pilot and commit to not bringing Diem to market.”
Interestingly, the Novi wallet rollout persisted despite the senate’s hostility, since it is presently available for download on Apple and Google’s app stores.
Diem asserts that the company is not affiliated with Facebook Diem indicated in response to the Senators’ letter that the lawmakers may have misinterpreted “the link between Diem and Facebook.” While also admitting that the social media company and the cryptocurrency initiative were two distinct entities.
“Diem is not Facebook,” the press announcement states. We are an autonomous group, and Facebook’s Novi is just one of the Diem Association’s more than two dozen members. Novi’s pilot with Paxos has nothing to do with Diem.”
“Diem’s blockchain-based payment system was purpose-built for payments, which is why we emphasized customer safety, financial stability, and combatting financial crime,” the news statement stated. Additionally, our independence is intended to promote payment competitiveness and interoperability.”
While all of this may seem correct, Diem is still inextricably bound to Facebook in several ways. For instance, the Diem Stablecoin project is being directed by one of Facebook’s top executives, David Marcus, who serves as the social media giant’s head of finance.
Apart from that, the idea is a Facebook initiative, having been created internally in 2018 before being canceled. However, Instagram’s parent firm has now formed multiple agreements to keep the initiative afloat.
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