Facebook could soon be an important player in the cryptocurrency industry. That was one of my takeaways from interviewing David Marcus, Facebook’s top crypto exec. The social networking giant is pushing to launch its Novi digital wallet this year, even if the diem cryptocurrency that the company is helping to develop isn’t ready. (You can read the full Q&A here).

“We need to go this half [of 2021] and we’re going to do what it takes to basically start this journey,” Marcus said in an interview Tuesday.     

Marcus, who oversees all of Facebook’s payment and financial products, said the company would prefer to launch Novi with diem. But the rollout of diem, a stablecoin tied to the U.S. dollar, ultimately depends on the Facebook-backed organization overseeing its launch.