Facebook-backed digital currency company Meta sells technology for $200 million

A 3 D printed Facebook logo Meta is displayed on a laptop keyboard in this illustration taken on November 2, 2021. REUTERS Dado Ruvic Illustration File Photo

A person familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that Meta Platforms Inc's digital currency company FB.O Diem Association is closing down and selling its technology to California-based Silvergate Capital Corp SI.N for about $200 million.

In June 2019, Meta, formerly Facebook Inc, first unveiled plans for Diem, known as Libra, as part of an effort to expand beyond social networking into e-commerce and global payments.

Policymakers across the world worried that the project could erode their control over the money system, enable crime and harm users' privacy.

A recent blow came when Facebook's financial technology executive David Marcus left the company to start working on something new. Meta and Silvergate didn't respond immediately to a request for comment outside business hours.