Diem withdraws Swiss license application

The Diem project, behind the development of the digital currency, has withdrawn its application to obtain a license to operate as a payment system in Switzerland. said FINMA, the local Financial Market Supervisory Authority, reported this.

The Swiss regulator explained the withdrawal on the grounds that Diem plans to launch a payment system from the United States at the outset, as the project is initially aimed at the American market and is dollar-denominated.

Diem planned to issue a stablecoin as soon as it received FINMA’s approval, and in April media reported that a pilot project with a US-dollar-backed digital currency, will be launched in 2021.

The Facebook-backed Diem project, previously known as Libra. After the rebranding, Facebook threatened with a lawsuit, and German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz stated, that something more than a mere rebranding of the digital currency would be required to soothe regulators’ concerns about its launch in the EU.

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