Facebook executive David Marcus, vice president of messaging products at the company, who also had a previous stint at PayPal as a president, has joined Coinbase, the site focused on cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase announced the appointment on Tuesday (Dec. 12th).
As Fortune reported upon the announcement, Marcus is reputed to be “something of a guru” within mobile payments — Coinbase president Asiff Hirji, who came on board to the company earlier this month, acknowledged this. Hirji stated that Marcus is “a very well-known financial tech leader in the Valley. He’s got a tremendous track record. He’ll have seen many of the issues we’re currently facing.”
While joining the Coinbase board, Marcus will maintain his Facebook role, stated Fortune. The site also noted that Coinbase is still squarely targeting growth. “Right now, we’re genuinely focused on the volume we’re facing. It’s yet another step in adding asset classes and scaling,” said Hirji. The executive has stated that Coinbase’s GDAX platform handles the highest global volume of cryptocurrency trading activity. Among new products to debut: a custodian service for institutional investors.
Separately, Marcus said in an online post on the site Medium that “I’ve been involved with, and fascinated by, cryptocurrencies since 2012, and I’ve witnessed how Coinbase has started democratizing access to this new asset class. I’m convinced that what the company is working on has the potential to materially change the lives of people around the world, and I’m looking forward to working with Coinbase and its leadership team to help make this vision a reality.”