Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey did not mince his words when he criticised Meta’s cryptocurrency project, Diem. In a recent interview with MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, Dorsey stated that Meta CEO Zuckerberg should have focused on the bitcoin ecosystem instead of working on the stablecoin project.

In the hour-long interview, Dorsey had no qualms about expressing his feelings about Diem, saying the project was a waste of time and effort. He also said that the project was not transparent enough, and he felt that Meta would have done much more for humanity if they had concentrated on Bitcoin.

Diem was supposed to be a stablecoin pegged against less volatile assets like national currencies or commodities. This would help it offset the typical volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. But after various rebranding efforts, intense scrutiny from lawmakers, and high-profile staff departures, the cryptocurrency failed to take off. Meta eventually sold the Diem project to the crypto-focused bank Silvergate for around $200 million.

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In his interview, Dorsey criticised Meta’s approach towards creating the stablecoin, saying that their focus was, solely getting people on its suite of products.

“They tried to create a currency that was owned by Facebook — maybe for the right reasons, maybe for great reasons — but there were also reasons that were trying to bring more and more people onto the Facebook ecosystem. They opened something like Bitcoin. Did this instead of using protocol and standard” Dorsey said.

Since leaving Twitter, Dorsey has been concentrating on his new company, Block. Formerly known as Square, Block is a payment company at the forefront of making bitcoin more accessible to the masses using their Cash App. The company is also working on creating affordable hardware for Bitcoin miners.

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Dorsey has been a vocal Bitcoin maximalist for quite a while. He firmly believes that the utility and reach of Bitcoin are unmatched. In the same interview, he claimed that instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, Meta should have put all their efforts into Bitcoin.

According to him, Bitcoin has already proved that it can bring a more equitable future and give people the opportunity to better themselves.

Microstrategy has also been trying to put Bitcoin in the limelight. Recently, in an association with the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC), they released a report showcasing how the Bitcoin mining industry is becoming more sustainable.

(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)

First Published:Feb 2, 2022 5:38 PM IST