Xapo CEO Wences Casares has been appointed to PayPal’s board of directors, the pioneering online payments firm announced today.The former founder of digital wallet firm Lemon Inc, acquired by LifeLock in 2013, Casares would go on to launch bitcoin security startup Xapo, which has raised more than $40m in two public funding rounds.In the official release, PayPal lauded Casares for his past entrepreneurial efforts and position as a “cryptocurrency thought leader”.While he did not cite bitcoin specifically, Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal, aimed to position Casares as an addition to the team that would help the company with its forward-looking initiatives.“Wences’s unique line of sight into the future of commerce is ideally aligned with PayPal’s vision of transforming the management and movement of money for people around the globe.” Though Xapo remains one of the most high-profile firms in the industry, it did see its star dim somewhat in 2015 amid a lawsuit by online identity firm LifeLock, the previous employer of Casares and four other members of its executive team.

LifeLock has argued that the defendants “spent months” developing Xapo while employed by LifeLock and using LifeLock resources.Xapo would later file a cross-complaint.As of 4th January, Xapo had successfully argued that the case should be moved from California to Argentina, as the work was done by “Argentine citizens”, a motion granted by Judge of the Superior Court Peter Kirwan that effectively halts case developments.Following the news, Casares will join PayPal’s Compensation Committee.The digital revolution is making transactions cheaper and easier for millions of people worldwide and will eventually push out traditional forms of payment, like cash, PayPal's Dan Schulman told CNBC on Wednesday."There are 2 billion people in the world that live outside the financial system, and the things that we take for granted — paying a bill, cashing a check, sending money to a loved one — are incredibly time-consuming for them," the online payment-service president and CEO told "Squawk Box."

"The promise of fintech is that you can make those transactions much quicker and much less expensive," Schulman said.Fintech, or financial technology, is a type of financial service like PayPal, bitcoin and Venmo, where transactions are digitized and, according to Schulman, cheaper, because they are not subject to fees that often come with cashing checks or transferring money in person."If you can do it all digital, you can do it much less expensively, and you don't have to wait three days to get that money.You can do it instantaneously," he said.With fintech becoming an increasingly popular method of payment, the "middleman" that converts digital transactions into cash may eventually be obsolete, Schulman said."I think what we came to the realization of is that the war is really against cash and against waste," Schulman said, speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland."There's tremendous leakage in the system."The CEO said examples of "leakage" could be as simple as losing a benefit payment check in the mail or as detrimental as government corruption.

"If we can collaborate in a productive way, which we've all decided to do, we can probably take the best assets of traditional financial institutions, the best assets of emerging technologies — Fintech — and create better value propositions," Schulman said.buying bitcoin myceliumIn 2015, PayPal spun off from former parent eBay in a swift move to let the two companies narrow their focus and develop independently.smtp server bitcoinEBay CEO Devin Wenig spoke to CNBC yesterday about central policy issues he'll be watching for after Inauguration Day.bitcoin hitmanPARIS -- Online payments will look completely different in the next decade, and Bitcoin has a better chance at revolutionizing commerce than the NFC tap-to-pay technology, PayPal President David Marcus predicted Tuesday.vcc with bitcoin

"I really like Bitcoin.I own bitcoins," Marcus said at the LeWeb conference here.However, he believes people today don't correctly understand what bitcoins actually are, and he's not yet ready to let people link their bitcoin wallets with their PayPal accounts.bitcoin lady found deadThey think because it's called cryptocurrency it's a currency.usb bitcoin mining device priceI don't think it is a currency.bitcoin gateway indiaIt's a store of value, a distributed ledger.bitcoin market independent reserveIt's a great place to put assets, especially in places like Argentina with 40 percent inflation, where $1 today is worth 60 cents in a year, and a government's currency does not hold value.bitcoin game achievements

It's also a good investment vehicle if you have an appetite for risk.But it won't be a currency until volatility slows down.Whenever the regulatory framework is clearer, and the volatility comes down, then we'll consider it.Also, bitcoins aren't widely enough accepted by merchants yet, Marcus added.Marcus is paying close attention to payment changes as part of his effort to re-energize an eBay service that grew sluggish and complacent after the early dot-com years.He's trying to foster innovation at the company and cater to developers, particularly those at start-ups.Although he has some concerns about bitcoin, he's unequivocal about near-field communications (NFC), the very short-range radio communication that can let people tap a credit card or mobile phone to a payment terminal."It's technology for the sake of technology or for the sake of pushing the agenda of the companies supporting it, versus solving real people's problems," Marcus said of NFC."Instead swiping or using a PIN pad, they're tapping.

How is that really better?How is that changing your life?People don't want that," he said.It's not a question of whether people at a payment terminal would prefer to tap or swipe, he said, but a reality that people don't want to go to a payment terminal at all.Other changes are more likely, he predicted."Today a merchant has Internet connectivity at the point-of-sale terminal.All the consumers have phones with wireless networks," he said."Why do you need to be at a place in a store to make a payment?[NFC is] too little too late."Other changes will be a gradual transformation of retail to become just part of online sales."I think the retail chains will have to reinvent themselves," he said.They'll be showrooms where people can check out products then buy them later online.They'll be logistics centers where people can pick up items quickly that they ordered online.They'll be warehouses from which companies can ship products quickly to online purchasers.Naturally, PayPal hopes to be part of those transactions, and to help make them easier.