The former Twitter CEO, a vocal BTC enthusiast, said the social network must learn lessons from its failed experiment — and should now focus on Bitcoin.
Jack Dorsey says Facebook "wasted a lot of time" by attempting to launch the Diem digital currency — and should have been focusing on Bitcoin instead.
The former Twitter CEO, a vocal BTC enthusiast, said the social network must learn lessons from its failed experiment, and consider focusing on infrastructure that already exists:
"Those two or three years could have been spent making Bitcoin more accessible for more people around the world, which would also benefit their Messenger product, and Instagram and WhatsApp. We have this open network right now."
Dorsey added that the Bitcoin network isn't currently accessible to everyone — and attention needs to turn to making it easier, faster and more approachable.
During his time at Twitter, Dorsey was instrumental in introducing a range of crypto-friendly features. Users can now send BTC to their favorite accounts in the form of tips, and support has been unveiled for NFT avatars. Despite his departure, the micro-blogging site maintains that digital assets are a big part of its future.
Dorsey is now focusing his efforts on Block — formerly known as Square. The company's products include Cash App, an exchange that allows consumers to buy BTC, and it now plans to build an "open Bitcoin mining system" that makes it easier for enthusiasts to buy equipment they can use at home.
He was speaking to Michael Saylor during a livestream of Bitcoin for Corporations — an event organized by MicroStrategy's CEO that aims to show businesses how it can be beneficial to add the cryptocurrency to their balance sheet.
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Diem Ends in Tears
Dorsey's criticism comes after it was confirmed that the Diem Association is selling its intellectual property to Silvergate — reportedly for $200 million.
Originally known as Libra when it launched in 2019, Diem was designed to be a digital currency that could be used across Facebook's suite of services, which also include Instagram and WhatsApp.
But it has faced a staunch pushback from regulators since the very beginning — many of whom were concerned about whether Facebook, now known as Meta, could be trusted with operating a private currency used by billions of people following a string of scandals.
Instead, Meta is pushing ahead with the development of the Novi digital wallet — and a different digital asset is being used to facilitate payments, the Paxos Dollar. Trials are currently taking place for a limited number of users in the U.S. and Guatemala, including on WhatsApp.
Announcing the sale to Silvergate, the Diem Association said its team had pursued its vision with "determination and perseverance — "motivated by the desire to deliver substantial benefits to consumers and businesses, along with a payments solution for those who are currently underserved or excluded altogether from the traditional financial system."
The association's CEO, Stuart Levey, said the project had aimed to comply with regulators by prohibiting anonymous sanctions — and even claimed that a senior regulator had described Diem as "the best-designed stablecoin project the U.S. government had seen." Levey added:
"Despite giving us positive substantive feedback on the design of the network, it nevertheless became clear from our dialogue with federal regulators that the project could not move ahead."
Levey hopes that Silvergate will now be taking Diem's vision forward — and indeed, analysts believe that the acquisition could prove beneficial for the company as it builds its own stablecoin, potentially accelerating its development.
A coin is expected to launch by the end of this year.
