In the new episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, which we want to illustrate today because of the really good topic with us, speak Jonas Gross and Alexander Bechtel with Julien Le Goc, Director of Policy at the Diem Association, formerly known as the Libra Association. Julien speaks candidly about the reasons behind the renaming of Libra to Diem and explains the new vision and mission of the association. Julien describes the remaining hurdles that need to be cleared before Diem can go live, and he provides exclusive insights into the current status of the project and the expected launch date.
In June 2019, Libra 1.0 entered the scene with a big bang. The first whitepaper dropped like a bomb. Regulators and central banks were forced to act – and they did. The initial reactions were harsh:
“Do we really want to give such power to private interests, given the consequences that would have for trade and financial stability?” asked Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, in an op-ed in the Financial Times.
Most of these reactions were driven by fears that a consortium of private institutions could threaten the monetary sovereignty of the state. Against this backdrop, Libra 1.0 was a wake-up call for central banks around the world. Many of them began to analyse the issue of their own central bank digital currency (CBDC).
In April 2020, the Libra Association published its second white paper on the launch of Libra 2.0, in an attempt to address central bank criticism and satisfy regulators. However, this was difficult after the Libra project had taken so many hits in its first ten months of existence.
In December 2020, the Libra Association announced a rebranding to rid itself of the burden of the past. Diem was born. But it’s not just the name that has changed. Diem comes with an updated vision and mission. The new focus is on providing universal access to financial services and building a trusted and innovative financial network that supports people and businesses around the world.
In this episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Julien provides insights into the progress of the Diem project. In particular, he points out the remaining challenges and talks about when Diem might launch. From his perspective, Diem is “almost ready to go pending regulatory approval,” but will it launch as early as January 2021, as a recent Financial Times article suggests? Find out more and be sure to listen to this multi-layered podcast.