Vodafone, which is part of the Facebook Libra Association, a conglomeration of 27 different companies meant to guide the proposed cryptocurrency to fruition, is asking for the appointment of a chief executive who is not tied to Facebook at all.
Vodafone CEO Nick Read said that if Libra was going to be successful it was imperative that it procures independent leadership completely separate from the social media giant.
“It needs a chief executive for that business,” he said, according to The Telegraph. “The sooner a chief executive is appointed to lead it going forward that is not [from] Facebook, then people will then understand the ambition of the entity itself.”
Vodafone is just one of the 27 corporations and companies who have pledged support for Libra, although it used to be 28 before PayPal decided to leave the venture.
David Marcus, the current head of Calibra, Facebook’s cryptocurrency wallet, used to be the president of PayPal.
The Libra Association is Swiss-based, and the currency has a goal for release by 2020.
Read said Vodafone was completely committed to Libra, despite some of the stumbling blocks it has been facing around the world, including heavy regulatory scrutiny and countries like France and Germany vowing not to use it.
“It is at super early stages. There are a lot of regulatory hurdles to go through. We are signing it,” Read said.
He said it was important that the new leader wouldn’t have any ties to Facebook, and that the association was looking to start the process of picking someone.
Many of the members of the association haven’t had any obligations besides pledging support, but as the release date for the currency gets closer, they will soon have to decide if they want to sign the articles of association. The first group meeting of the association is scheduled for Oct. 14.
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