The Meta-backed cryptocurrency Diem, which has endured multiple rebrands, congressional hearings, and the departure of several high-profile employees, has finally come to an end.

Diem announced Monday that it sold its assets to a crypto-focused bank – Silvergate – for about $200 million. In the past, Diem was working with Silvergate to launch a stablecoin pegged to the dollar.

In a press release, Diem CEO Stuart Levey stated that the company decided to sell the project once it became clear from conversations with federal regulators that the project would not be feasible. Diem’s launch has already been actively opposed by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

It is the end of an effort that appeared doomed from the start, as Diem’s assets were sold for a loss. The applications that were designed to be used with the token were created by Facebook, which is now called Meta.

The only problem was that even though Facebook formed the Libra Association to govern the token with other companies, people were immediately worried that Libra would result in even more power for the controversial technology giant.

Just months after the Libra Association had been announced, members of the group began dropping out.

The Libre token appeared on the scene when stablecoins, which are designed to hold a set price in order to encourage regular transactions, were relatively new and regulators had yet to thoroughly scrutinize the technology.

Since stablecoins have become so popular since 2019, governments all over the world are taking notice and begin to consider legislation.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in November that stablecoins should be regulated like banks. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the White House is directing federal agencies to regulate cryptocurrencies under the guise of national security.

The Meta-Diem relationship may be over, but Silvergate or another developer could revive the project. Despite Meta’s reputation sinking it, Diem’s design was transparent and regulator-friendly compared to many existing stablecoins.

Diem is unlikely to rise again with the same level of backing it once had with nearly all of Libra’s founding team gone from Meta.

The way the project was politicised appears to have angered at least some of the original Libra leaders. Diem has shut down, according to former Facebook executive David Marcus, who created Libra and left late last year:

Diem’s demise has a silver lining, as Meta has pledged not to enforce its trove of cryptocurrency patents against other developers – something Jack Dorsey also thinks is a good idea.

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