Facebook should focus on bitcoin, says Twitter founder

Jack Dorsey criticises Meta’s Diem crypto project, saying BTC is already ‘the native currency of the internet’

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO of the social media giant in November 2021 to focus on crypto-related ventures (AFP via Getty Images)

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has said Meta (formerly Facebook) should focus on bitcoin after it failed in its attempt to launch a global cryptocurrency.

Meta officially abandoned its Diem project after four years this week, with those behind it blaming pushback from regulators and “the behaviour of certain politicians”.

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Speaking at the Bitcoin for Corporations event on Tuesday, Mr Dorsey said Diem “wasted effort and time” and distracted from the existing solution for a native internet currency.

“This whole thing with Libra and then Diem, I think there’s a ton of lessons there. Hopefully they learned a lot, but I think there was a lot of wasted effort and time,” he told MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor.

“Those two or three years, or however long it’s been, could’ve been spent making bitcoin more accessible for more people around the world... We have this open network right now. And it’s usable. It’s not accessible to everyone, but it’s usable.”

The Twitter co-founder left his role as CEO of the social media giant last year to focus on crypto-related ventures, most notably his payments company Block (formerly Square).

Block’s popular Cash App platform recently integrated the bitcoin Lightning Network, allowing its millions of users to send BTC for free to anyone around the world instantly.

Mr Dorsey also set up TBD, a platform designed as an “on-ramp” to enable more people around the world to acquire bitcoin and become involved in the crypto economy.

“We’re now the closest we’ve ever been to having a native currency for the internet, which for me changes everything,” he said.

“The easier we make it, the faster we make it, the more approachable we make it, it’s going to better everything, including everything Facebook intended to do with Diem.”