Facebook vice president David Marcus is leaving his board position at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to focus more on his new role leading Facebook's blockchain strategy.
He became a member of the Coinbase board in December of 2017, presumably to expand his connections and knowledge in the crypto field. It is an area Facebook is expected to consider in tandem with any advancement in blockchain, which likely led Marcus to consider his role on the Coinbase board as a potential conflict of interest.
Facebook in May placed Marcus in charge of a blockchain initiative, which would likely include some of the same work that is taking place at Coinbase.
David Marcus, president of PayPal, a unit of EBay Inc., right, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, U.K., on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. EBay, based in San Jose, California, is expecting payment volume at PayPal to double in the next three years as people increasingly shop and pay for goods on mobile devices. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** David Marcus
Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Marcus left his job as PayPal president four years ago to become the leader of Facebook's mobile plans, particularly payments through the iMessage platform. During his two years as president at PayPal, Marcus was credited with improving the company's standing with application developers and helping land the acquisition of Braintree.
His role at Facebook has helped the company extend its messaging platform and begin probing other data and payments technologies.
In reporting the decision to step down from Coinbase, the CoinDesk news site reported Marcus is leaving that role less than a month after Facebook exempted Coinbase from its blanket ban on cryptocurrency-related advertisements.
Marcus became part of the PayPal family in 2011 when PayPal purchased Zong, a mobile payments company Marcus founded. Before becoming president of PayPal, he was its vice president of mobile for a year.
The card issuing fintech has worked for years to expand its business outside of Block. Mike Milotich, who in February became the third person to hold the fintech's top job in as many years, has been tasked to do just that.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook said in a speech Friday that the market's response to recent volatility shows resilience, but more study is needed about the financial stability implications of business relationships between banks and nonbanks.
The Supreme Court blocked a lower court injunction reinstating two Democrats who had been fired without cause from the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board, explicitly holding that Federal Reserve Board members would not be affected by the case.
BancFirst Corp. plans to acquire American Bank of Oklahoma; JPMorganChase rolls out a new platform to advise clients on international dynamics; Greg Cunningham takes on a new title, expanded duties at U.S. Bancorp; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
With licensing bills progressing through both the House and Senate, stablecoins are poised to become part of the regulated financial sector. How the banking and payments landscape will respond to that is up for debate.
