Brazilian Unicorn Nubank Hires Ex-Meta Crypto Chief David Lucas

cryptonews.com:

Brazilian neobank Nubank, known for its crypto-friendly stance, has made headlines by hiring David Marcus, the former crypto chief at Meta (formerly Facebook), while simultaneously seeing a key member of its management team step down. The move comes hot on the heels of the bank's release of its own crypto asset.

Per Criptofacil and a Nubank press release, Marcus has been appointed to Nubank’s board of directors. Marcus, who previously made a name for himself at the e-pay giant PayPal, headed the Libra/Diem project while at Meta.

The project ultimately failed to materialize in its original form, following the intervention of United States politicians. But Meta originally hoped that Libra (later known as Diem) would become a “global stablecoin.”

Marcus was responsible for creating a crypto wallet for the project – originally named Calibra. Last year he launched Lightspark, a firm that provides solutions for the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

While Nubank has made a significant hire in former crypto chief David Marcus, the Brazilian neobank has also experienced a key departure as Senior Director and Global Head of Public Policy Bruno Magrani has announced his resignation from the company after five years. 

According to O Globo, Magrani will be taking a sabbatical before pursuing his entrepreneurial plan.

Nubank’s journey into crypto began in earnest last year, and the firm now offers a large number of its users access to crypto trading via its app. The bank has some 70 million customers, by its own reckoning – around a third of Brazil’s population. It is also active in a range of other Latin American nations, such as Mexico and Colombia.

Nubank made a major announcement on March 1, revealing in a blog post that it had launched its own