Diem
DefunctWashington, US · 2 employees on LinkedIn · 5 known investors
Diem was a blockchain-based payment system designed to provide financial services to underserved and unbanked populations globally. The project was sold to Silvergate Capital Corporation in 2022 and is winding down.
Also known as Diem Association · Diem Networks US · Diem Payment Network · Libra · Libra Association
Founders & leadership
Investors · 5
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Company profile
researched Aug 2026Diem (formerly presented under the Libra name in the project's earlier media archive) was a project of the Diem Association, with Diem Networks US as an operating entity, aimed at building a blockchain-based payment system and a stablecoin, the Diem Coin. The stated mission was to build a financial network giving people and businesses everywhere access to safe and affordable financial services, with an emphasis on users who are underserved by or excluded from the traditional financial system. The design goals published on the company site were mobile accessibility from an entry-level smartphone with data connectivity, price stability through a reserve of cash or cash equivalents and very short-term government securities backing Diem Coins, low-cost and fast transfers, scalability via an open-source protocol and developer ecosystem, and security.
The project published a body of technical and policy documentation covering the Diem Reserve's design and structure, the Diem Blockchain (a distributed, programmable database implemented as an open-source prototype), the Move programming language used for transactions and smart contracts including Diem Coins and validator management, DiemBFT (a Byzantine Fault Tolerant state machine replication system based on HotStuff), network security, commitments to compliance and consumer protection, and governance of an open and competitive network. Developer resources included SDKs, JSON-RPC specifications, a wallet/merchant integration guide, a Mini Wallet and a public demo merchant store on the Diem testnet, and an official Diem Reference Wallet.
On 31 January 2022 the Diem Association announced the sale of the Diem Group's intellectual property and other assets related to running the Diem Payment Network to Silvergate Capital Corporation. CEO Stuart Levey said that despite positive substantive regulatory feedback on the network's design, dialogue with US federal regulators made clear the project could not proceed, and that the Association and its subsidiaries expected to begin winding down. As of January 2022 no Diem Coins had been issued.
Business model
The Diem Association planned to operate a payment network on which Diem Coins, backed by a reserve of cash, cash equivalents and very short-term government securities, would circulate, with an open-source protocol intended to let third-party developers build wallets, merchant integrations and other products on top of the network. Sources do not describe how the Association intended to earn revenue.
Latest developments
On 31 January 2022 Diem announced the sale of its intellectual property and other Diem Payment Network assets to Silvergate Capital Corporation and said the Association and its subsidiaries expected to begin winding down in the following weeks. The company's media page states that as of January 2022 no Diem Coins had been issued and that diem.com is the only official Diem site.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Diem positioned itself as a heavily compliance-oriented stablecoin and payment network; the company stated that a senior US regulator described Diem as the best-designed stablecoin project the US Government had seen, and that the President's Working Group on Financial Markets Report on Stablecoins validated many of Diem's core design features.
Technology
The Diem Blockchain was described as a distributed, programmable database intended as a foundation for financial services, with an open-source prototype implementation of the Diem protocol. Smart contracts and transactions were written in Move, an executable bytecode language used to implement significant parts of the protocol including Diem Coins, transaction processing and validator management. Consensus used DiemBFT, a Byzantine Fault Tolerant state machine replication system based on the HotStuff protocol. Developer tooling included SDKs, JSON-RPC specifications, validator node documentation, a Mini Wallet and demo merchant store on testnet, and an official Diem Reference Wallet. The network prohibited anonymous transactions and implemented controls aimed at sanctions, money laundering and terrorism financing risk.
Go-to-market
Consumers and businesses making everyday payments worldwide, with explicit emphasis on people underserved by or excluded from the traditional financial system, plus developers and wallet or merchant operators building on the open-source protocol.
Geography
Headquartered in Washington, DC, per the dateline of the January 2022 announcement. In May 2021 the Association announced a strategic shift to the United States alongside its Silvergate partnership. The network itself was intended to be global.
History
The project's own media archive lists Libra-branded items from 2019 (including the Libra Association charter press release and inaugural meeting minutes in October 2019 and a response to the G7 in October 2019) and Libra media coverage into early 2020, followed by Diem-branded material. In May 2021 Diem announced a partnership with Silvergate and a strategic shift to the United States. In August 2021 it announced growth of the Maintainers team for the project. On 31 January 2022 the Association announced the sale of the Diem Group's assets to Silvergate and the start of a wind-down.
Risks & controversies
Diem's CEO stated that dialogue with US federal regulators made clear the project could not move ahead, despite positive substantive feedback on the network design, which led to the asset sale and wind-down. The Association also warned publicly that diem.com was its only official site and that it was not involved in any offering of Diem Coins as of January 2022, and that no Diem Coins had been issued.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 3
by search overlap
Companies competing with Diem for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsThe Diem Association announced the sale of its intellectual property and other assets related to the running of the Diem Payment Network to Silvergate Capital Corporation (NYSE: SI). O'Melveny & Myers, Skadden Arps and Fenwick & West acted as Diem's legal advisors and Architect Partners as financial advisor; Goldman Sachs advised Silvergate with Holland & Knight as its legal counsel. Diem's CEO said the project could not move ahead following dialogue with US federal regulators, and that the Association and its subsidiaries expected to begin winding down.
Blog post announcing expansion of the Maintainers team for the Diem project.
Press release covering the Libra Association charter; Libra was the earlier name of the project under the Diem media archive.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Diemdiem.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Diem do?
- Diem was a blockchain-based global payment network and stablecoin project whose assets were sold to Silvergate in January 2022.
- Who are Diem's investors?
- Diem's investors include Coinbase Ventures, Slow Ventures, Gaingels, Precursor Ventures, Techstars.
- Where is Diem headquartered?
- Diem is headquartered in Washington, US.