Libra Association Names Levey as CEO Ahead of Regulatory Push

The Libra Association, the group behind the proposed digital currency invented by Facebook Inc., named former U.S. Treasury Department official Stuart Levey as its first chief executive officer.

Levey has been chief legal officer at London-based bank HSBC Holdings Plc since 2012. As leader of the Libra Association, he will work with global regulators to push the project forward -- a daunting task that already led the group to revise its plans for releasing a digital coin. The association is currently working with regulators in Europe and the U.S. to obtain the necessary payment licenses.

Before joining HSBC, Levey was under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department, where he helped “combat illicit finance,” the Libra Association said Wednesday in a statement. Much of the skepticism about Libra has centered on concerns that the coin could be used for illegal activity.

Libra, which was announced in June 2019, was conceived and developed by Facebook, the world’s largest social network. It’s now governed by a 24-member independent coalition of companies and nonprofits, though the group has changed since the project was launched. Levey will assume the role sometime this summer, and will be stationed in Washington. The Libra Association, based in Geneva, said last month that it aims to have its coins ready in late 2020.

Read more: Facebook-Backed Libra Plans Multiple Single-Currency Coins

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Kurt Wagner in San Francisco at kwagner71@bloomberg.net

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Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net

Andrew Pollack

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