Bitcoin startup CEO joins PayPal board

Bitcoin House News January 14 CoinDesk News Bitcoin startup Xapo CEO Wences Casares has been appointed to the PayPal board of directors, mainly responsible for the development of the online payment market. At the same time, Casares will join PayPal's compensation committee.

Wences Casares is the former founder of the digital wallet Lemon , which was acquired by LifeLock in 2013. He then founded the Bitcoin security startup Xapo and has received two rounds of financing totaling $ 40 million.

PayPal highly praised Casares ’ previous entrepreneurial experience and defined him as a thought leader in cryptocurrency.

While PayPal founder and CEO Dan Schulman didn’t mention Bitcoin specifically, the addition of Casares will help the company take more forward-thinking initiatives.

Shulman said:

“ Wences ’ unique perspective on the future of commerce aligns with PayPal’s vision to change the way money is managed and enable the world’s money to be allocated rationally. ”

Although Xapo was one of the brightest startups in the digital currency industry, its luster was dimmed in 2015 when online identity company LifeLock sued Xapo , which included Casares ’ former employer and four other members of the management team.

Xapo then filed a cross-claim, alleging that Casares was an employee of Xapo for several months while it was developing the app and that he used LifeLock resources.

As of January 4 , XAPO successfully argued that the case should be transferred from California to Argentina because the work was done entirely by Argentine citizens, and the motion authorized Superior Court Judge Peter Kirwan to effectively stay the case.