By
Bena Ilyas
April 19th, 2024
Singapore state investor Temasek is one of the latest organizations to join the Facebook-backed digital currency project Libra. But the group recently made some changes, including a shift to issuing multiple so-called stablecoins.
Nowadays, when coronavirus caught every part of the economy and people’s lives, we almost forgot about, pre-corona stuff that was, well, quite important. One of those is certainly Facebook’s announced cryptocurrency Libra. Before pandemic, we witnessed numerous hearings, among others the one of David Marcus, Libra’s CEO and the main man behind Facebook – Mark Zuckerberg. Be it as it may, it seems that the things are finally getting back to, what we now call “new normal.” Libra even attracts new members again and Temasek is among them.
Also, it seems that the Libra Association continues to add to its ranks.
Three New Members Added to Libra: Temasek Among Them
The Switzerland-based consortium, which monitors the Libra stablecoin project’s evolving, said on Thursday it decided to add three new members from the venture capital and investing worlds: Temasek, Slow Ventures, and crypto industry investor Paradigm.
Dante Disparte, vice chairman and head of policy and communications for the Libra Association noted:
“The addition of three new members to the Libra Association, shows our commitment to building a diverse group of organizations that will contribute to the governance, technological roadmap, and launch readiness for the Libra payment system.”
Temasek, one of Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds which boasts a portfolio valued at more than $300 billion, will allegedly be one of the particular players for a special role inside the Association. Based in Singapore, the company “brings a differentiated position as an Asia-focused investor.”
Temasek, together with JPMorgan and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, made head pages back in November for a blockchain-based payments platform. Temasek has invested in companies together with financial services companies, including Virtu, Standard Chartered, and MasterCard, according to its official website.
Chia Song Hwee, the deputy CEO at Temasek, said in a statement:
“Our participation in the Libra Association as a member will allow us to contribute towards a regulated global network for cost effective retail payments. Many developments in the space excite us – we look forward to further exploring the potential of the technology.”
Further Development Is Happening
The Libra project, which was rebooted by Facebook and its blockchain unit Calibra, has managed to further evolve since it first bumped the digital asset world last summer. At the end of April, the firm discovered a renewed white paper, bordering its plan to comes out with a package of fiat currency-backed stablecoins, preferably instead of starting out with its own multi-asset backed cryptocurrency as it originally planned.
This move, together with other differences mentioned by Facebook’s David Marcus, established a nod to the government’s constrains the project has faced since its official beginning last summer. As such, it’s not surprising that Libra took the chief legal officer of banking giant HSBC as its first chief executive officer. Stuart Levy, a former Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is set to join the Association already this summer.
2019 was a year of turmoil for the Libra project, at least by some criteria. Libra made numerous global regulators and lawmakers pretty much angry, but also defenseless – that made them even more mad. Therefore, the Association experienced an evacuation of most major players in financial services and financial technology. We all remember how Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal decided almost at the same time to leave Libra. Last year, Libra estimated it would grow the Association to include 100 members.
Adding More Members
However, the organization has brought in some other important members since the beginning of the year, including Shopify, Heifer International, Checkout.com and crypto broker Tagomi.
People familiar with the situation claim that hiring is building up at both Calibra and Libra, which up until recently, was working on what was described as a “skeleton crew.”
Recently, Calibra has posted job openings for marketing associates and communications managers, product designers, and risk and compliance officers. Calibra is also trying to construct some infrastructure that will help boost the adoption of the Libra token. The Association is also looking to fill some spots and is currently seeking a marketing lead and developer talent.
The illustrations were provided by Depositphotos.com