Bob Lee, ex- Chief Technical Officer at Square (now doing business as Block), has reportedly joined MobileCoin as its Chief Product Officer.
As an early investor in and advisor to the crypto and virtual payments startup, Bob helped “shape product and technology strategy.”
He now “oversees the development of MobileCoin’s product portfolio,” according to a release.
Bob has diverse experience building digital and physical products “for a mobile-first world.” He is most prominently “known as the first CTO of Square, and the creator of Cash App (formerly Square Cash).” Before Square, Bob was at Google “leading Android’s core library team and launching the world’s most used operating system,” the announcement noted.
Recently, Bob has been “exploring a range of technologies and services.” He founded the social network Present, which “leverages sophisticated location-based technology.” He invested in and advised firm like Figma, Clubhouse, Beeper, and Faire. Bob also “applied his expertise to the COVID-19 pandemic, from assisting the WHO with their mobile app to leading development for an at-home testing company,” the update revealed.
According to Bob:
“The traditional financial system leaves behind hundreds of millions of ‘unbanked’ people worldwide and consequently excludes them from the associated benefits. MobileCoin corrects this injustice with its novel blockchain technology—the first solution worthy of the analogy ‘digital cash,’ as measured by cost, speed, and security.”
He added:
“Much like encrypted messengers support free speech, MobileCoin supports free commerce. With financial data security more important than ever, developing end-to-end encrypted payment technology isn’t just smart—it’s our responsibility.”
Josh Goldbard, Founder and CEO of MobileCoin, remarked:
“We already brought together best-in-class blockchain technology with newly created, multi-layer encryption. Now, we are furthering our ongoing product strategy and technology development with Bob. I can’t imagine a more qualified innovator to help us build MobileCoin products for consumers and merchants worldwide.”
Bob also mentioned:
“After closely advising the MobileCoin project this past year, I’m excited to join the team full-time and help actualize key product launches and integrations. Josh has done incredible work growing the company so far—I’m prepared to help MobileCoin reach its full potential.”
Bob will be speaking at MobileCoin’s inaugural conference, Crypto Renaissance—which is “an intimate event on December 10th in San Francisco.”
Crypto Renaissance is “bringing together thought leaders across the crypto landscape, discussing the pain points and opportunities being created across industries and sharing a vision on how digital cash will improve the world as we know it.”
As noted in the release, mission-driven MobileCoin is “democratizing the digital payment system by enabling lightning-fast, sustainable and easy global transactions.”
Guided by the belief that secure and encrypted transactions are a right, MobileCoin “leverages blockchain, an opaque ledger, and cryptographically protected transactions.”
Development of the MobileCoin ecosystem is “spearheaded by the MobileCoin Foundation.” The firm maintains its head offices in San Francisco.