Meta’s Diem Team Announced New Blockchain Project Dubbed Aptos

Meta’s diem team annoucned a new blockchain proejct dubbed Aptos after failing to succeed as Libra or Diem so now the ex-developers joined forces to launch a new proejct so let’s read more in today’s latest cryptocurrency news.

The brains behind Meta’s Diem group unveiled new plans to launch the blockchain network as a separate protocol that offers support for other Web3 solutions, and also the annoucnement included a name change to Aptos. Some members of the defunct Diem blockchain teamed up to launch a new blockchain project and the news was shared via a medium blog post published on Thursday.

According to the statement, the new team called Aptos Labs assembled the express like original creators, designers, builders, and researchers of Diem in a bid to create a new and independent proejct that will be focused on delivering the safest layer 1 blockchain protocol in the world. The team said that it leveraged the original thesis from Libra’s white paper to build the new decentralzied network.

Aptos is led by Avery Ching and Mo Shaikh who worked on building Meta’s Novi digital wallet. Ching is regarded as the co-creator of the Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus protocol and deployed on the Diem blockchain. The BFT ensures that complex computer systems are functioning even if a few components are breaking down. Regarding the motive behind the new project, Shaikh outlined that Facebook’s initial idea was to deliver a safer and scalable solution that will be accessible by billions. Although the pressure former regulators led the social media company to shut down, Shaikh opined that the vision behind Diem is far from over:

“We have had the luxury of thinking about these problems alongside some of the brightest engineers in the world for years. Since departing Meta (formerly Facebook) we have been able to put our ideas into motion, ditch bureaucratic red tape, and build an entirely new network from the ground up that brings them to fruition.”

Aptos has plans to secure $200 million in funding from venture capital companies like Andreessen Horowitz alongside the host of crypto investments from stakeholders. However, as we recently reported, Libra was created as a global payment method by Morgan Beller, Kevin Weil, and David Marcus back in 2019. the proejct was backed by Facebook and even got support from companies like Visa, PayPal, eBay, and Mastercard.

Things went bad when regulators in the US expressed concerns that the virtual asset could avoid the established anti-money laundering systems. The project rebranded as Diem back in 2020 but the move did little to avoid the mounting pressure from financial watchdogs. Later in 2021, Marcus stepped down as the proejct lead after failed attempts at getting approval and licensing from the regulators.