Facebook's Plan to Drop Its Unsuccessful Crypto Venture

On September 1, the Novi digital wallet will be shut down. The company behind the project - Meta (formerly Facebook) - made this announcement. This follows years of regulatory scrutiny and unsuccessful launch attempts.

• In June 2019, several executives from a number of companies established a digital wallet (called Libra at the time) that wanted to operate as a single global currency (like a stablecoin).
• The plan was closely examined by regulators, as the company had previous problems with watchdogs.
• Over the years, Libra has undergone multiple changes, including the rebranding to Novi (last October), inspired by the Latin words novus (new) and via (way). The company wanted to eliminate some of the confusion with its previous version.
• In the beta version of Novi, Coinbase was the custodian and users were able to send money "as easily as they would send a message."
• The wallet that was created by Meta just over a year ago will be shut down, as announced on Novi's website.
• The notice also advises existing users to withdraw their funds from the platform before that date, as they will not be accessible after it.
• The promise of a stablecoin called Diem came from Novi, when it launched its beta version. However, the idea was quickly abandoned by Meta after that.
• A group of ex-developers decided to start a new project and fund it with $200 million, calling it Aptos.