Silvergate was partnering with Diem to implement the Diem USD stablecoin. However, that fell apart when the Fed intervened and warned Silvergate it might not “allow the activity.” This was apparently the last straw for Zuckerberg, who then decided to sell the Diem assets. Now, we find Signature Capital has acquired those assets, so apparently the Fed’s warning was specific to Diem and not stablecoins in general. What a lucky coincidence for Silvergate:
“Silvergate Capital CEO Alan Lane told CNBC on Monday the bank holding company hopes to launch a stablecoin by the end of this year, following its acquisitions of assets and intellectual property from Mark Zuckerberg’s beleaguered cryptocurrency project.
The California-based financial firm, which through its subsidiary Silvergate Bank operates the crypto-focused payments platform Silvergate Exchange Network, confirmed it was buying assets from the Diem Group on Monday. Silvergate had previously been a partner on the Facebook-backed project.
‘The Facebook engineers that developed this over the last couple years are truly world-class engineers,’ Lane told “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer in an interview.’We were working last year with Diem and we got to know the team very well, and we couldn’t be more excited to, essentially, be taking the reigns and bringing a stablecoin to market hopefully later this year.’”
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group
