According to the Reuters report, the Facebook-backed Libra Association has appointed former HSBC European head James Emmett to lead Libra’s operational unit tasked with developing and operating the project’s cryptocurrency payments system, the Libra Association said on Thursday. The project has brought in many high-level hires since announcing a revamp and formally applying for a Swiss payments license earlier this year. Many of them specialized in financial compliance and ties to the U.S. government and authorities. Libra has made changes to its white paper to please regulators.
Libra Association is planning to launch the stablecoin soon.
Earlier this year, Libra Association appointed the HSBC’s former chief legal officer Stuart Levey, an erstwhile Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury during the Bush and Obama Administrations, to head the association overseeing the project. The Geneva-based governing body, the Libra Association, in April announced scaled-back plans for the crypto network linked to individual national currencies and overseen by global watchdogs. The new announcement is a retreat from its original plans for a single coin backed by a basket of different currencies.
James Emmett will join Libra Networks LLC on October 1.
James Emmett, who left HSBC earlier this year amid a strategy overhaul, will join the Libra Association’s operating subsidiary, Libra Networks LLC, as managing director on October 1. Libra Association head Levey, a former colleague of Emmett’s at HSBC, said he was confident Emmett would “help make Libra’s vision a reality.”
Established in May 2019 as a Facebook subsidiary, ownership of Geneva-based Libra Networks LLC was transferred to the Libra Association in October last year. The Facebook-backed crypto project received a lot of criticism from regulators across countries as they claimed it would impact financial sovereignty.
