Senior Facebook exec David Marcus joins Coinbase's board

Bitcoin startup, Coinbase that shot up to top spot in the iTunes store last week has got on board Facebook Vice President of Messaging Products David Marcus as it navigates through an uncertain and frenzied period of growth.

The appointment was announced by Coinbase on Tuesday. Marcus too shared the news via tweet.

Thrilled to join the @Coinbase Board! Looking fwd to doing my best to help @brian_armstrong and the amazing team he's assembled, continue to democratize access to cryptocurrencies, and deliver on the mission to create an open financial system for the world https://t.co/CDGPu4RhYO

— David Marcus (@davidmarcus) December 12, 2017

Marcus obviously has some experience in the digital payments space; before joining Facebook, he was the president of PayPal. In a blog post, Brian Armstrong, Coinbase's CEO, said he was "pleased" to have Marcus join the company. His "experience will add breadth and depth to the Coinbase board and will help the leadership team as the company focuses on becoming the most popular and safest place to buy and sell digital currencies," Armstrong said.

“I’ve been involved with, and fascinated by cryptocurrencies since 2012, and I’ve witnessed how Coinbase has started democratizing access to this new asset class,” Marcus said in the Medium post. “I’m convinced that what the company is working on has the potential to materially change the lives of people around the world, and I’m looking forward to working with Coinbase and its leadership team to help make this vision a reality.”

The news comes amidst bitcoin soaring past record value leading everyone from ordinary investors to hedge funds to jump on the bitcoin bandwagon.