Libra Exec Hirings Suggest Commitment to Anti-Crypto Regulations

Following a big-time update to its white paper in mid-April, the Libra Association has over the past couple of weeks made a string of striking new additions to its core governance team, including appointing Robert Werner as its general counsel and Stuart Levey as its CEO. Before joining the Libra Association, Werner served as the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, as well as holding a number of top leadership positions at financial firms such as HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.

The Libra Association has also been able to rope in Temasek, one of Singapore's two government-owned investment vehicles, along with San Francisco-based crypto investment company Paradigm Fund and private equity firm Slow Ventures to its ever-growing consortium.

The aforementioned moves have been viewed by the global crypto community as being a clear indication that the Libra Association is now really serious about realizing its dream of widespread adoption of its native digital offering: the Libra token.

What do Libra's moves really mean?In the wake of the aforementioned announcements, a number of questions have been raised about the Libra Association's intentions regarding the mainstream deployment of its stablecoin-pegged cryptocurrency, especially in terms of legitimizing its operations in the eyes of potential investors all over the world.

On the subject of Temasek, Paradigm Fund and Slow Ventures becoming part of the Libra family, Lallouz similarly stated that these firms - due to their market presence and overall reach - will definitely help push the crypto and blockchain adoption narrative in a positive direction for the industry as a whole.

"Adding Temasek brings a new scale and type of investor, in particular from a geography where the Libra Association isn't as well represented. Having a firm like Temasek be on board is a very strong benefit to the Libra Association and the project's global reach and impact."

Explaining his thoughts on the subject, Reuben Yap, the project steward for the privacy-first digital currency Zcoin, told Cointelegraph that the hirings of Werner and Levey indicate a strong pro-regulatory and compliance approach from the Libra team, as a closer look into their histories shows their expertise in dealing with many of the fears that have been traditionally associated with the cryptocurrency market.

Will Martino, the co-founder and CEO of blockchain interoperability firm Kadena, believes that the signings can be viewed simply as "Professional hires" that have been facilitated to help Libra create a conventional financial service that is "Nothing more than a credit card with a dash of crypto for flare."

Another interesting point to note here is that the Libra team is looking to distance itself from its obvious affiliations with Facebook and focus on its latest hirings as much as possible.

"We want to be clear that Facebook does not make any hires on behalf of the association and Facebook is just one of 27 members who lead this project. Stuart and Robert should be characterized as the Libra Association's recent hires and the project should be characterized as the Libra Association's, not Facebook's."