Libra Association Taps Saumya Bhavsar as General Counsel for Payments Subsidiary

The Libra Association has made a key hire in its pursuit of a new cryptocurrency and payments system. The Libra Association, which manages Facebook’s quiet cryptocurrency project, has appointed a general counsel to oversee the development of its forthcoming payment system. In an official press release, the Libra Association Wednesday introduced Saumya Bhavsar as the new general counsel of Libra Networks, the entity charged with operating the blockchain-based payment system. Bhavsar comes with two decades of experience in the financial services industry serving in various legal, regulatory....

The project is hoping that a new name will help people forget the mass regulatory panic that drowned out Libra's initial announcement. Per a Tuesday press release, the Libra Association is changing its name to the Diem Association.The shift is likely in the hopes of turning the page on Libra's PR. Facebook initially announced its planned global stablecoin Libra in June of last year to immediate regulatory uproar that has swamped the project since. Facebook's involvement has proved especially controversial.The new name uses the Latin for day, as in "carpe diem." The Association's press....

Libra will initially be pegged to just one fiat currency. The long-awaited digital currency Libra could finally see the light of day as soon as January 2021, according to a new report.Following more than a year of scrutiny from global financial regulators, Libra will launch in the form of a U.S. dollar-backed digital currency, the Financial Times reported on Nov. 27.Citing three people involved in the Libra project, the Financial Times wrote that the Libra Association plans will eventually add more fiat currencies to the basket of assets that back Libra’s value.Expected in January, the....

The Libra Association is rebranding itself as Diem to distance itself from the original multi-currency stablecoin vision as it prepares for a possible 2021 launch.

The G7's recent rejection of Libra doesn’t seem to have slowed them down. The Libra Association, which oversees the as-yet unreleased Libra cryptocurrency, has chosen a chief financial officer and chief risk officer for the project. Ian Jenkins, who touts experience from HSBC, Santander, and Credit Suisse, will supervise the Libra Network’s finances and risk management, according to an Oct. 15 announcement.The news comes only days after the multi governmental group G7 explained that the project needed proper regulatory measures in place prior to launch. “The G7 continues to maintain that....