David Marcus was born in France, grew up in Paris and Geneva and was interested in technology from a young age. At 23, he founded his first company – Internet service provider GTN – and later sold it.
Related: Who is David Marcus: A Bitcoin Believer Became Co-Creator of Facebook Libra
Marcus is currently the head of Calibra, a subsidiary of Facebook and the official wallet provider for the Libra cryptocurrency. He is a former head of messaging products at Facebook and was a member of the board of directors of Coinbase in 2018. Before that, Marcus served as president of PayPal following the financial services giant’s acquisition of the payments company Zong he founded in 2018.
Libra Unveiling
In late 2018, Facebook’s initiative to develop its own digital stablecoin propelled Marcus into the crypto scene spotlight, as the tech entrepreneur reportedly led the effort. Following the official announcement of the Libra project, Marcus became a frequent news topic, either attempting to allay concerns about the project or providing assurances about its future.
More importantly, Marcus became a crucial figure in July 2019 after he was summoned by the US Congress to appear at two consecutive hearings to respond to harsh criticism from lawmakers.
Before the hearings, Marcus wrote a letter to Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters — who previously summoned Facebook to Capitol Hill — in which he said Calibra and the Libra Association would cooperate with lawmakers. Mark said:
“I want to personally assure you that we are committed to taking the time to do things right. »
During hearings before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, Marcus faced tough questions. Although Marcus himself called After a “thoughtful” conversation on Twitter, the general consensus is that lawmakers were not sold on Libra, as the subsequent sharp drop in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) showed.
The price of BTC drops on July 16 and 17. Source: Coin360.com
The next day, Marcus faced an even tougher crowd as he took questions from the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman eventually summoned CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to the Hill, apparently unsatisfied with what Marcus had to say.
Solidify the position
On September 25, Marcus wrote a detailed blog post covering the advantages that a blockchain-based payment system like Libra can have over traditional methods. According to him, “the existing “monetary networks” are closed and poorly interconnected”, which makes them ineffective. They also require large cash reserves and the participation of numerous intermediaries.
Marcus concluded his post by saying that he thought the Libra method was ambitious because it did not follow the traditional system. He reiterated his desire to bring the idea to life, perhaps in an attempt to reassure the project’s stakeholders that Facebook is not dismayed by the regulatory pushback:
“That’s why we decided to take the most ambitious route and why we are so determined to achieve it.”
In a series of tweets in early October, Marcus made several reassuring statements regarding the security of Libra, the availability of information, and the willingness of association members to stick with the project during difficult times. A tweet in particular note:
“The tone of some of these reports suggests angst, etc. I can tell you that we are working very calmly and confidently on the legitimate concerns raised by Libra by bringing conversations about the value of digital currencies to the forefront.”
On October 14, Marcus became a board member of the Libra Association, representing Facebook. The other four seats were occupied by Kiva Microfunds, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Xapo Holdings Limited and PayU.
A few days later, Marcus said in an interview that he had been following Bitcoin since 2012 and was a strong supporter of the coin and believed it to be digital gold, which also means it is not a currency on his books.
He also made it clear that BTC has nothing to do with Libra and that if the successful token were a stablecoin, he would work to introduce it to the Calibra wallet instead of coming up with a new cryptocurrency.
On October 20, what Marcus meant became clear, as it was reported that the Libra cryptocurrency could now be based on a pool of stablecoins that represent national currencies, saying: “This is one of the options that should be considered.”
Marcus ended October 2019 by stating that anti-money laundering and know-your-customer procedures will be much stricter on the Libra network than elsewhere. It’s unclear whether this was a dig at other cryptocurrencies or an attempt to silence Libra’s critics who claim the project would face privacy issues similar to those Facebook has faced in the past.
At the Money 20/20 event, Marcus said: “I want to say that the effectiveness of sanctions enforcement can be much higher on Libra than on other payment networks. He also added that regulators will be able to track bad actors on the network, providing another indication of how Libra might operate:
“The open ledger – blockchain – allows regulators to look at what’s going on themselves and identify where the risk lies without relying on reporting. »
In a similar vein, on November 7, Marcus said during a panel that the Calibra wallet and Facebook would not share or mix data, adding that:
“We have built very strong firewalls between Calibra and Facebook in such a way that if you are on the Facebook side, no one can have access to this data.”
To fully understand, Marcus confirmed that to ensure the two companies remain separate, their relationship could be audited to ensure customer trust in the crypto platform. During the same interview, Marcus also confirmed what many believed all along: he expected intense scrutiny from the Libra announcement.
In all
It’s fair to say that despite David Marcus making headlines while carrying out Libra’s orders, he has become one of the few speaking out on behalf of crypto, especially in front of US lawmakers. Nevertheless, one of his most appreciated tweets This is Tesla’s Cybertruck rather than its own cryptocurrency – which may be indicative of the lack of enthusiasm for Libra it will have to fill in 2020.
David Marcus is ranked #2 in Cointelegraph’s first-ever Crypto and Blockchain Top 100.
