Libra Association to rebrand to Diem

The Libra Association has announced rebranding plans to distance itself from the original Facebook-led vision rolled out in 2019, according to CoinDesk.

The Association, composed of 27 members, announced it was changing its name to Diem (the Latin term for ‘day’). Moreover, it has also finalised its leadership team, which includes Dahlia Malkhi as CTO, Christy Clark as chief of staff, Steve Bunnell as chief legal officer, and Kiran Raj as executive vice president for growth and innovation and deputy general counsel.

The new hires join the previously announced CEO Stuart Levey, Managing Director James Emmett, Chief Compliance Officer Sterling Daines, Chief Financial Officer, Ian Jenkins, and General Counsel Saumya Bhavsar.

According to CoinDesk, Levey believes regulators are warming up to the project, particularly through the changes and the implied distance from Facebook. Now, Facebook is not a member of the governing association, though its subsidiary Novi (formerly Calibra) is.

Initially, Libra planned to launch within the first half of 2020, but the regulatory hurdles complicated these efforts. Now, the ‘Diem dollar’ is ready to be launched as soon as the new entity gets an operating license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). Still, Levey declined to provide a timeframe, noting that FINMA will make its decision in its own time, the online publication added.

International remittances and merchant payments are still the two primary use cases that the project is aiming at. At a technical level, the project is ready to launch, with developers constantly testing and iterating on the design, Levey said. And while the project has evolved in scope since its unveiling, it still uses a blockchain.