The man in charge of Facebook’s cryptocurrency program has announced that he will quit the firm at the end of 2021.
David Marcus was in charge of the crypto unit at Meta, the new name of Facebook’s parent company.
But he has now stepped down amid uncertainty around the future of Meta’s cryptocurrency, Diem, which has not been helped by a variety of confusing name changes at the company formed known as Facebook.
The social media giant recently rebranded itself as Meta and announced that it would focus on developing the Metaverse - a Matrix-like virtual reality Mark Zuckerberg described as “an embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it”.
The Diem stablecoin will play a role in the Metaverse - if it ever sees the light of day. Mockingly dubbed ZuckCoin by critics, but originally called Libra, Diem has drawn criticism from regulators and prominent crypto leaders including Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, who said there was a “huge amount of mistrust” around Facebook.
Meta recently launched a pilot of the Novi crypto wallet, which uses the Paxos Dollar stablecoin rather than Diem.
In a post shared to Twitter (and Facebook), Marcus said:
“After a fulfilling seven years at Meta, I’ve made the difficult decision to step down and leave the company at the end of this year.
“While there’s still so much to do right on the heels of hitting an important milestone with Novi launching - and I remain as passionate as ever about the need for change in our payments and financial systems - my entrepreneurial DNA has been nudging me for too many mornings in a row to continue ignoring it."
“The one thing I’m the proudest of during my time here is the amazing kickass team we’ve assembled over the last three years. This is the most resilient, passionate, determined and talented group of humans I’ve ever worked with.”
Marcus worked on the creation of Facebook Messenger, a period he described as “the most fun and stimulating years of my life”. He described the years spent working on Novi as “the most mission-driven and intellectually stimulating ones”.
“I’m incredibly grateful to Mark for the opportunity and privilege to share a bit of the journey over the years,” he added. “I’ll keep lifelong memories and friendships from my time at the company, and I wish it well in the years to come. I now look forward to having more free time in the months to come before I start building something new and exciting again.”
Mark Zuckerberg responded to the Facebook post and wrote:
“David: I've learned so much working with you and I'm so grateful for everything you've done for this place. We wouldn't have taken such a big swing at Diem without your leadership and I'm grateful you've made Meta a place where we make those big bets.”
Stephane Kasriel, the former CEO of Upwork, will now be the head of Novi.
He tweeted:
“Today is bittersweet, sad to see David Marcus leave Meta, grateful for his leadership and belief in me as the new Head of Novi.
“I am so honored for the opportunity to lead the awesome Novi team, and look forward to continuing to build products and services that allow more access for people and businesses to the financial system and digital economy.”
