Facebook : Libra Adds New CEO as Cryptocurrency Project Gets a Reboot

By Jeff Horwitz

Facebook Inc.’s cryptocurrency project, Libra, is bringing on HSBC Holdings PLC’s top attorney to lead the effort as it revamps following an icy reception last year.

Stuart Levey, a former U.S. Treasury undersecretary who has spent the last eight years as HSBC’s chief legal officer, said he would leave the bank this summer to become the Switzerland-based Libra Association’s chief executive.

The hire of a prominent banking industry attorney with a background in compliance reflects the association’s efforts to overhaul its plans for the digital currency in ways that will make them more palatable to governments around the world.

Libra Association is a Geneva-based nonprofit organization established by Facebook and composed of independent members.

The association announced revisions to the project last month, de-emphasizing its initial plans for a unique, asset-backed token that regulators feared might displace their own currencies…