The ex-Facebook company releases a failed crypto project
Many may remember Meta Founder Mark Zuckerberg enduring an absolutely harrowing meeting with Congress about his cryptocurrency project Libra. Mr. Zuckerberg was noted as taking a beating during the meeting and the project did not fare that better afterward either.
Novi Pilot- a money transfer service of Meta that uses the company’s own crypto digital wallet will officially end on the 1st of September. As per announcements made on the website the platform and services Novi app, and Novi on WhatsApp will all be dissolved. Starting on the 21st of July users won’t be able to add funds and users have been suggested to start removing money from their accounts as soon as they can, as once the pilot ends they will be unable to do so.
The technology that was used with Novi is still going to be implemented in future projects such as the metaverse that is currently still in development at the company. Meta is very vocal about its commitment to building on web3 and how optimistic they are about the value of the technologies that are being built with it.
The Novi Pilot was introduced last year in October. Instead of creating a new Diem token, the project was instead created using Paxos Trust Co. USDP stablecoin while Coinbase Global was safeguarding all funds. Diem if you don’t recall was originally the Libra token for which Zuckerberg faced scrutiny in his hearing with Congress in 2019 as the token had no regulatory approval at all. The token was renamed Diem but the ambitions for the project were not fully met as the plans for it being a fast payment system were scaled back amid regulations and scrutiny from authorities. The assets for Diem were sold off in January and the head of the Novi wallet initiative, David Marcus, left.