Facebook Might Get Sued Over Libra’s New Name… and Germany Hates It

Things keep going from bad to worse for Diem, the newly rebranded name for Facebook’s controversial Libra stablecoin.

It’s now emerged that a London-based finance app, also called Diem, is weighing up whether to take legal action against the tech giant.

Diem describes itself as a “bank of things” that allows people to turn their things into cash instantly — and according to Sifted, executives were “flabbergasted” when they found out that Facebook’s tanks were on their lawn.

“As a small startup, we are concerned that customer confusion resulting from Libra’s actions will significantly impact our growth,” Geri Cupi, Diem’s founder and CEO, said.

The question now is whether or not Diem throws in the towel to avoid a David vs Goliath battle, or whether the company stands up for itself.

Fintech investor Chris Adelsbach, one of Diem’s backers, told Sifted that legal experts are urging them to take action to protect the brand.

“It wouldn’t have taken that much effort for Facebook to find out if there’s another Diem in financial services… They obviously took the view that “we can just crush them, we’re Facebook,” he said.

Why This News Matters

Another day, another roadblock for Diem.

As we reported in the newsletter on Monday, German finance minister Olaf Scholz has also said he isn’t a fan of the stablecoin’s new name, continuing to refer to it as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Scholz, along with other European finance ministers, don’t want the stablecoin to launch until regulatory issues have been ironed out.

However, Facebook Financial’s David Marcus is calling for regulators to give them “the benefit of the doubt” — telling Singapore’s FinTech Festival that the company has good intentions and wants to launch in 2021.

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