Facebook-backed Diem aims to launch digital currency pilot later this year

The Diem Association, the Switzerland-based nonprofit which oversees diem’s development, is aiming to launch a pilot with a single stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar in 2021, according to CNBC.

The pilot will be small in scale, focusing largely on transactions between individual consumers. There may also be an option for users to buy goods and purchases, the person added. However, there is no confirmed date for the launch and timing could therefore change.

Diem is now in talks with Swiss financial regulators to secure a payment license, a crucial step that would place the organization further along the path toward getting its digital currency project off the ground.

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First proposed in June 2019 with the name libra, the token was initially intended to be a universal currency tied to a basket of sovereign currencies such as the U.S. dollar and the euro.

But after facing strong opposition from regulators around the world, the Diem Association has lost numerous members and executives almost two years on from its initial unveiling.

Visa, Mastercard and Stripe were some of the earliest companies to withdraw from the association. That was followed by an exodus of other members, including PayPal, eBay and Vodafone. The association is still backed by major companies, such as PayU, Shopify, Spotify and Uber.