David Marcus Quits Coinbase Board; Will Facebook Launch its Own Cryptocurrency?

Facebook Executive David Marcus has quit Coinbase nearly 8 months after he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the cryptocurrency exchange. The move is being as an effort to remove ‘conflict of interest’ as the industry is abuzz with news of Facebook issuing its own cryptocurrency or token soon.

Marcus resigned on Friday citing a new group he was setting up at Facebook around blockchain. Marcus in the past has founded Echovox - a mobile media monetization company and Zong - a platform allowed users to pay for items online directly through their mobile phone bills. Soon after Zong was acquired by eBay's PayPal in August 2011, Marcus joined PayPal as Vice President and General Manager of the company's mobile division. In April 2012, Marcus replaced Scott Thompson as President of PayPal.

Marcus’ journey with Facebook started in June 2014 when he stepped down as President of PayPal to join the social media giant as its Vice President of Messaging Products. Marcus is seen as the force behind the introduction of Facebook Messenger's P2P payment platform, which reached 1 billion active users in 2016.

As Marcus was one of the early promoters of cryptocurrency, and had immense experience with digital payments at both PayPal and Facebook, in December 2017 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Coinbase. However, after Marcus’ exit from Coinbase, it is to be seen if and when Facebook announces its new cryptocurrency venture.