• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
PayPal Holdings

PayPal Just Appointed This Bitcoin Startup Entrepreneur to Its Board

By
Leena Rao
Leena Rao
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Leena Rao
Leena Rao
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 13, 2016, 10:23 AM ET
Allen And Company Annual Meeting Draws Top Business Leaders To Sun Valley, Idaho
SUN VALLEY, ID - JULY 09: Wences Casares, founder and chief executive officer of Lemon Inc., attends the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 9, 2014 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Many of the worlds wealthiest and most powerful businessmen from media, finance, and technology attend the annual week-long conference which is in its 32nd year. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)Photograph by Scott Olson — Getty Images

Payments giant PayPal announced a new board member this morning, potentially signaling the company’s openness to cryptocurrencies. Wences Casares, CEO of bitcoin wallet provider Xapo, joined PayPal’s board and is part of the company’s compensation committee.

Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal (PYPL), said of the entrepreneur: “Wences’s unique line of sight into the future of commerce is ideally aligned with PayPal’s vision of transforming the management and movement of money for people around the globe.”

SIGN UP: Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter about the business of technology.

Casares is a serial entrepreneur, founding Argentina’s first Internet service provider as well as a gaming company (acquired by Activision) and digital wallet startup Lemon (bought by LifeLock, with which Casares is currently embroiled in a lawsuit.)[9:2

His newest startup, Xapo, allows people to purchase bitcoins and manage them in a digital wallet. Users can spend their bitcoins through a Xapo debit card or store them in a quasi savings account. One of the financial technology industry’s hottest bitcoin startups, Xapo has raised $40 million in funding from a number of well-known Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs, including PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, former PayPal CEO David Marcus, Greylock Partners, and Benchmark.

WATCH: For more on bitcoin, check out this Fortune video:

Casares brings his cryptocurrency experience to PayPal, which started allowing its merchants to accept bitcoin in 2015. Schulman, who officially took over the reins of a newly public PayPal in July 2015, has been open about his excitement for alternative currencies and new technologies in “fintech.”

At a Business Insider conference in December 2014, Schulman said he was particularly interested in the potential of blockchain technology, which is the distributed transaction processing engine behind cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

About the Author
By Leena Rao
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

iran war
Real EstateIran
How a war in the Middle East is hiking your mortgage rate in America
By Jake AngeloMarch 26, 2026
2 hours ago
Wealthy New Yorker on phone
SuccessBillionaires
New York is home to 154 billionaires. Together they’re worth $975.7 billion—and some of them are even making $2 million an hour
By Emma BurleighMarch 26, 2026
3 hours ago
Harvey CEO Winston Weinberg
SuccessCareers
30-year-old CEO of $11 billion Harvey earned the backing of OpenAI and Sam Altman. He says you have to ‘re-earn’ your role every 6 months
By Preston ForeMarch 26, 2026
3 hours ago
NewslettersMPW Daily
How the youngest female CEO in the Fortune 500 navigates political turmoil
By Emma HinchliffeMarch 26, 2026
3 hours ago
MPWMost Powerful Women
Influencer Alix Earle turned her worst insecurity into her first brand. This is her plan to monetize her 14 million followers and make it last
By Emma HinchliffeMarch 26, 2026
3 hours ago
SuccessHiring
Duolingo CEO’s taxi driver test decides who gets hired—before the interview even starts
By Sydney LakeMarch 26, 2026
3 hours ago

Most Popular

Success
Palantir’s billionaire CEO says only two kinds of people will succeed in the AI era: trade workers — ‘or you’re neurodivergent’
By Fortune EditorsMarch 24, 2026
2 days ago
C-Suite
'I didn’t want anybody shooting me': Five Guys CEO gave away $1.5 million bonus to employees over botched BOGO burger birthday celebration
By Fortune EditorsMarch 25, 2026
22 hours ago
Magazine
The youngest-ever female CEO of a Fortune 500 company is fighting Trump's cuts to keep Medicaid strong
By Fortune EditorsMarch 24, 2026
2 days ago
Commentary
The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it
By Fortune EditorsMarch 23, 2026
3 days ago
Success
JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon says remote work breeds ‘rope-a-dope politics’ and stunts young workers’ growth
By Fortune EditorsMarch 25, 2026
1 day ago
Environment
Vail Resorts' CEO says it's time to think beyond the $1,000 ski pass that helped build the empire
By Fortune EditorsMarch 26, 2026
11 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.