Libra's Demise: Insights From Former Facebook Executive

According to PANews, David Marcus, former head of Facebook's stablecoin project Libra and current CEO of Lightspark, recently shared insights on the project's termination. Marcus described Libra, later known as Diem, as an advanced, high-performance blockchain focused on payments, developed in collaboration with Meta's team to address global payment challenges. Before its announcement, the project underwent months of briefings with key regulators in Washington and abroad. In June 2019, Libra was launched with 28 companies, but Marcus was summoned to testify before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee two weeks later. This marked the beginning of two years of continuous efforts to appease lawmakers and regulators. By spring 2021, Libra had addressed all potential regulatory issues, including financial crime, money laundering, consumer protection, and reserve management, and was ready for launch. Some members of the Federal Reserve Board expressed support for the project. Ultimately, Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell was prepared to allow Libra to proceed in a limited capacity. However, during a bi-weekly meeting, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reportedly told Powell that allowing the project to continue would be "political suicide," and she would not support him if he let it happen. Marcus was not present during this conversation but believes it marked the moment Libra was effectively killed. Shortly thereafter, the Federal Reserve organized a conference call with all participating banks, during which the Fed's General Counsel read a prepared statement to each bank, stating, "We cannot stop you from moving forward and launching, but we do not want you to do so." This effectively ended the project. Marcus reflected on the experience, emphasizing the lesson learned: to build an open monetary network for the world, designed to transfer trillions of dollars daily and last for a century, it must be built on the most neutral, decentralized, and unbreakable network and asset, which he believes is Bitcoin.