George Sax, a former deputy assistant director of the United States Secret Service, has joined a London-based Bitcoin wallet startup called Blockchain. Sax will be the new global head of security at the crypto company.
In his 25-year career, Sax was responsible for combating cyber-related financial crimes and developing programs to protect the U.S. financial infrastructure. He was also responsible for protecting a number of U.S. presidents and their families. Most recently, he managed security for the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign as well as Donald Trump’s 2017 U.S. presidential inauguration.
“Blockchain is helping to build a fairer financial future by democratizing access to digital assets,” Sax said in a company statement.
The news comes at a time when cyber robberies are not uncommon. Last August, Fortune spoke with more than a dozen victims, including tech CEOs and well-known blockchain proponents, whose Coinbase accounts were emptied.
That’s exactly what Blockhain hopes to avoid by hiring Sax. The startup’s co-founder and CEO Peter Smith told Bloomberg that Blockchain is “one of the top targets in the world for security threats.”
Blockchain has created a bitcoin wallet that stores the digital currency and carries out transactions. The company raised more than $70 million in funding from investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lakestar, GV (formerly known as Google Ventures), and billionaire Richard Branson. It reportedly manages more than 26 million digital wallets across 140 countries.