PayPal Forms Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Advisory Committee

Jose Fernandez da Ponte said it was crucial to engage with world leaders to understand the opportunities and challenges of the industry.

Major US-based payment processor PayPal has assembled a team of industry experts to serve as advisors on cryptocurrencies, blockchain and digital currencies.

In a statement on Tuesday, PayPal said the six members of its Blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currency Advisory Committee will help support its current and future products, as well as create a more inclusive digital financial ecosystem The goal. Peter Briger, Co-CEO, Fortress Investment Group, Chris Brummer, Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, Shafi Goldwasser, Professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Timothy Massad, Former Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), MIT Sloan School of Management Antoinette Schoar, professor of finance, and Neha Narula, head of MIT's digital currency initiative, will join PayPal's plans.

Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currency at PayPal, said: "We believe engaging with the world's best leaders to better understand the industry's most compelling opportunities and complexities challenges are crucial.”

All six advisors have years of experience in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space from a business or regulatory perspective. Briger reportedly advised SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son to invest millions in bitcoin ahead of the 2017 bitcoin bull run. Goldwasser is part of a research team at MIT who proposed zero-knowledge proofs as a cryptographic scheme long before cryptocurrencies.

During the MIT Digital Currency Initiative, Narula was responsible for helping the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston build a digital currency aimed at expanding consumer use. Brummer was reportedly one of the CFTC chair candidates before President Joe Biden formally nominated Rostin Behnam. Massad, who served as CFTC chairman from 2014 to 2017, argued after his departure that regulators should approve exchange-traded funds that offer bitcoin exposure.

It's unclear if the advisory group is aimed at expanding PayPal's presence in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. In October 2020, the payments app announced that it would allow users in the United States to buy cryptocurrencies through the platform, and later expanded the service to include crypto payments at its millions of merchants around the world. The company is reportedly planning to launch its own stablecoin, PayPal Coin.