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Former Facebook Employees Get $200 Million To Create Blockchain System For Aptos

Silvergate Capital purchased Diem’s tech assets for $182 million earlier this year, ending the grandiose ambition of Facebook to create a blockchain payments network.

The transaction demonstrated how Facebook, now Meta, is left with few regulator-approved ways to become a key participant in the blockchain ecosystem.

Some ex-Meta workers are taking up the open-source Diem blockchain mantle in an attempt to accomplish the idea of a decentralized network that they claim is created to support billions of users. It is geared to cater to substantial corporate clients early on.

Blockchain System For Aptos

Aptos, a project founded by ex-Facebook employees who just left the firm in December, has already received unicorn money from Andreessen Horowitz and other prominent web3 investors.

Aptos CEO Mo Shaikh said in a recent blog post:

“We are the founders, researchers, designers, and builders of Diem, the first blockchain developed for this purpose… while the rest of the world never saw what we produced, our job is far from done.”

Aptos has revealed that it has secured $200 million in funding for its objective of developing a blockchain scalability system with participation from Tiger Global, Katie Haun, Multicoin Capital, 3 Arrows Capital, FTX Ventures, and Coinbase Ventures.

Silvergate Capital is another notable investor in the first round, while the Aptos team insists that they would not license or use any of Silvergate’s Diem IP as they build up their blockchain.

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Crypto total market cap at $1.78 trillion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com
Layer 1 System For Aptos

The Aptos blockchain will be a Layer 1 system, which means it will not be built on top of current blockchains such as Ethereum or Solana but will instead develop its decentralized network.

Along with the investment announcement, Aptos announced the official launch of its “devnet,” which will enable developers to explore and build on the Aptos blockchain before a public release, which the team believes will occur in Q3 of 2022.

Aptos’ goal is to create a more scalable blockchain with faster transactions and lower fees than today’s mainstream networks. The creators aspire to produce a more stable and predictable network for corporate customers interested in adopting blockchain technology.

No Direct Link With Facebook

While Diem supporters such as Andreessen Horowitz may gather behind a team attempting to take up the task of what Facebook was trying to establish with Diem and Libra, some in the crypto community remain wary of accomplishing a vision of web3 imagined by Facebook.

“To be clear, we have no official connection with Facebook and no funding from them,” Shaikh said.

Meanwhile, another challenge/opportunity that Aptos faces is how soon it can recruit developers. The company seeks to attract developers by using Move, an open-source programming language created by Meta.

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Featured image from SiliconANGLE, chart from TradingView.com

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David Marcus, The Latest Top Executive To Leave Meta/ Facebook’s Crypto Project

Another one bites the dust. David Marcus stepped down as the head of Novi, Meta/ Facebook’s fintech division. The company’s first order of business was to create a cryptocurrency, but regulators around the world were not keen on the idea. After a few missteps and name changes, they finally released a wallet called Novi to little fanfare. The coin, now named Diem, is still in development and unreleased.

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David Marcus Says Goodbye

This is not the first time this happens, other top executives have abandoned Meta’s ship over the years. CNBC recapitulates:

“Marcus’s departure follows that of other key executives who led Facebook’s ill-fated efforts in blockchain. Fellow project founder Morgan Beller left the company in September 2020 to go into venture capital. Kevin Weil, another one of the project founders, left in March to join Planet, a San Francisco company.”

Ex-Upwork CEO Stephane Kasriel will replace David Marcus, who in a Facebook post announcing his departure said:

“The one thing I’m the proudest of during my time here is the amazing kickass team we’ve assembled over the last three years. This is the most resilient, passionate, determined and talented group of humans I’ve ever worked with. I find comfort and confidence in knowing that they will continue to execute our important mission well under Stephane Kasriel’s leadership, and I can’t wait to witness this from the outside.”

Mark Zuckerberg responded to David Marcus: 

“I’ve learned so much working with you and I’m so grateful for everything you’ve done for this place. We wouldn’t have taken such a big swing at Diem without your leadership and I’m grateful you’ve made Meta a place where we make those big bets. You’ve built a great team, and while I’ll miss working with you, I’m looking forward to working with Stephane to lead the team going forward.”

I am so honored for the opportunity to lead the awesome @novi team, and look forward to continuing to build products and services that allow more access for people and businesses to the financial system and digital economy.

— Stephane Kasriel (@skasriel) November 30, 2021

For his part, Stephane Kasriel said via Twitter:

“I am so honored for the opportunity to lead the awesome Novi team, and look forward to continuing to build products and services that allow more access for people and businesses to the financial system and digital economy.”

FACEBOOK price chart on BMFBOVESPA | Source: TradingView.com
What’s The Deal With Libra/Calibra/Novi/Diem?

After many iterations, Diem is now a stablecoin prototype. For its part Novi, the wallet, is only available in the United States and Guatemala. Facebook/Meta is running a pilot program to test the technology and gather data. They’re trying to steal the remittances market in Guatemala, which constitutes 14% of the county’s GDP. Using the Novi wallet, it’s almost free.

Nowadays, Facebook/Meta is using the Paxos stablecoin USDP as their standard. About this, David Marcus said via Twitter. “USDP is a well-designed stablecoin that’s been operating successfully for over three years and has important regulatory and consumer protection attributes.  I do want to be clear that our support for Diem hasn’t changed and we intend to launch Novi with Diem once it receives regulatory approval and goes live. We care about interoperability and we want to do it right.”

Related Reading | Facebook Officials Claim Novi Received Approval From Major U.S. States

However, will Diem ever receive regulatory approval? For Facebook/Meta, that’s the Trillion-Dollar question. The company’s reputation regarding its handling of personal data is hampering the whole operation. And, well, governments around the world don’t seem to want a company like Facebook in charge of the money. And, well, the project’s been all over the place from the very beginning. No offense to David Marcus, who claims to be Diem’s “Co-creator & Board member.”

The project’s slogan is “To build a trusted and innovative financial network that empowers people and businesses around the world.” And, well, that’s Bitcoin. Why don’t they just plug in to the winning open monetary network? Because Meta wants to be in control of the money supply. And that’s what government’s around the world are trying to prevent.

Featured Image: mohamed_hassan on Pixabay | Charts by TradingView

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David Marcus Of Facebook Indicates Plans To Support NFTs

According to David Marcus of Facebook, you must seek out ways to clients support NFTs if there is a good cryptocurrency wallet such as Novi.

After completing Facebook’s exclusive crypto wallet Novi, the top-notch social media magnet, will likely support NFTs (non-fungible tokens) very soon.

The co-creator and financial head of Facebook, David Marcus, launched cryptocurrency Diem. In his speech on Wednesday, he stated that Facebook is assuredly searching for realizable ways to enter into the Non-fungible-Tokens industry.

Facebook is considering many different choices to launch the NFT features when the right time comes, says Marcus in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

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According to him, “with a good cryptocurrency wallet such as Novi, there is the need for you to think on how to assist clients support non-fungible-tokens,” he says.

Crypto wallet Novi is currently “ready for launch,” says Marcus. However, after developing the wallet for two years now, Facebook is not in a hurry to launch it, pending the firm’s go-ahead from regulators to launch together with Diem.

The Origin Of Facebook Backed Crypto-Wallet Novi

Facebook started the work on this digital currency a couple of years ago, initially bearing answering Libra. On June 18th Facebook broadcasted a white paper for their long-awaited blockchain-based and cryptocurrency financial framework project.

As stated by the paper, the social media magnet global stablecoin named “Libra” will function on a scalable and native blockchain. Also, it will be supported by reserve assets designed ostensibly to provide it with intrinsic value and reduce volatility fluctuations.

All the assets comprise a basket of short-term government securities and bank deposits, held within Libra Reserve per every issued Libra.

In addition, the governance of the current crypto will be through a Switzerland-based not-for-profit consortium – “Libra Association.” It counts Stripe, Visa, PayPal, Mastercard, Uber, Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase, and eBay as its founding members.

Meanwhile, Facebook has plans to further the association to reach at least 100 members by the estimated launching time during the first six months of 2020.

Latest Novi Launch Resolution

As it stands now, the social media magnet Facebook may go ahead with the Novi launching without Diem says Marcus as a fallback plan. However, for Diem to succeed, both of them are required, he added.

In June 2019, Facebook broadcasted a white paper for the then-named Libra. The original plan was to stick numerous fiat currencies with this digital currency, including the US, Singapore, British pounds, Japanese yen, and the euro.

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However, because of the pushbacks from global regulations, Libra Association finds it difficult to the stablecoin since then.

Eventually, the digital currency is currently rebranded to Diem Association. Also, the digital currency is redesigned to be stuck majorly on the United States dollar. In addition, the United States government will regulate it.

Featured Image From Pixabay

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Facebook Officials Claim Novi Received Approval From Major U.S. States

David Marcus, an executive in Facebook, released the regulatory information concerning Novi. The update states the current status of Diem’s crypto wallet.

Through a recent blog post, Marcus confirmed the approval for Novi in almost every state in the United States. Also, he revealed that it will not be launched in places where it has yet to get approval.

The Facebook executive mentioned that project commits not to launch Novi on Diem without the necessary clearance. Moreover, he states that the project still keeps to its commitments. As such, there’s an ongoing consultation with international regulators.

Furthermore, Marcus disclosed some information about Novi’s features and functions. According to him, the crypto wallet will enable free person-to-person payments within and outside the U.S. He explained the possibility for a future Novi’s profitability from merchant payments. This could be effective if the project will build a larger customer base.

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Marcus added that they could diversify and provide a range of other financial services. These could be achieved through collaborations with prominent, reputable, and regulated partners that will bring expansion.

How has The Facebook Project Fared?

From the current news on Facebook’s crypto, the project is progressively moving to its launching period. This’s after over 2 years through the period of development and delay in the project.

The announcement of the project was in June 2019. However, some issues surrounded it immediately after that. Also, most of the project members exited the Diem Association in early October 2019.

Some of the old members to exit the group include Paypal, Mastercard, and Visa. Consequently, many European regulatory made moves to crack down on the project within the period. The same time brought Mark Zuckerberg to face the U.S. Congress concerning Facebook involvement.

From the multiple issues, Diem was forced to move for a rebrand this year. This probably shifted its attention to the US.

The rebranding process is meant to give the project independence from Facebook’s involvement. However, the project before its rebranding had several concerning Facebook’s direct involvement. Some of the concerns were the misuse of Facebook in legitimate activities and funding of terrorism.

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Additionally, to boost its new stance, Diem, through its rebranding, selected some new members to its team. The move was for better repositioning in compliance with regulations and regulatory bodies. So, the aim is not just to create a name but to perform beyond the name.

Recall that before now, Diem has passed through several tracks as different brands and trademarks. Some of the previous brands include Globalcoin, Facebook Coin, and Libra.

Also, Facebook, in May, revealed its plans of launching Diem as a stable coin with the U.S. dollar’s backing. Invariably, it took the project out from several other international currencies.

However, neither Marcus, Facebook, nor the Diem Association gave any possible release date for the wallet or stable coin.

Featured image from Pixabay