The up-and-coming stablecoin gets a chieftain.
Levey will be tasked with shepherding the controversial Facebook-led Libra stablecoin project through a global regulatory process.
The project has faced huge blow-back from watchdogs around the world since it was first unveiled last year, leading to many of its biggest payments members – including Visa, Mastercard and PayPal – to jump ship.
However, in February, the association tweaked its plans significantly, scaling back its ambitions ahead of an application for a payment system license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.
Levey has been chief legal officer at HSBC since 2012. Before that, he served as the first Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence during the Bush and Obama Administrations, helping to set policy on combating illicit finance.
Says Levey: “I am honoured to join the Libra Association as it charts a bold path forward to harness the power of technology to transform the global payments landscape.
“Technology provides us with the opportunity to make it easier for individuals and businesses to send and receive money, and to empower more than a billion people who have been left on the sidelines of the financial system, all with robust controls to detect and deter illicit financial activity.
“I look forward to working closely with governments, regulators, and all of our stakeholders to realize this vision.”
