Facebook’s top cryptocurrency executive is leaving the company

David Marcus, head of Facebook’s cryptocurrency effort, is leaving the company at the end of this year to pursue other projects.

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Marcus’s exit comes at a time when Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has failed to launch its digital currency that can be used for online transactions through Facebook.

He was overseeing the development of digital currency Diem and a wallet app Novi. After his departure, Stephane Kasriel will take over.

“While there’s still so much to do right on the heels of launching Novi — 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,” Marcus said in a tweet.

In a reply to Marcus’s post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “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.”

Marcus joined Facebook in August 2014 from PayPal. He started working as vice president in charge of the Messenger chat service and then switched to launch Facebook’s financial projects unit in 2018.

Next year, the company announced blockchain currency Libra and digital wallet Calibra in hopes of launching both by 2020. However, it failed to do so amid backlash from lawmakers and regulators globally.

Facebook launched its digital wallet Novi in October, but the digital currency, now named Diem is yet to go live. Regulators worry that Diem could gain control over money system, enable crime and harm users’ privacy.

US lawmakers urged Facebook to discontinue the tests as it does not trust the company to manage the cryptocurrency.