Coinbase Hires Big Names From Amazon and Facebook to Bolster Security and Business Development

Coinbase is adding some notable technology veterans to its team, it says.

The new faces at the company – former Facebook security director Ryan McGeehan and Todd Edebohls, Amazon's former director of business development & sales – will bring with them extensive experience in the areas of security and business development.

When asked for comment, the San Francisco-based company issued a statement regarding the new team members, which have yet to be formally announced:

"These hires represent Coinbase growth, momentum and commitment to security. As an industry it shows bitcoin is growing up, attracting top talent."

Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam told TechCrunch: “The industry is continuing to evolve. We’re attracting very, very top talent from prior rocketships that were successful.”

Fraud prevention

The addition of McGeehan is a confidence builder for Coinbase's hosted wallet service.

The company faces a lot of risk in terms of security and, with the company hosting over a million wallets, there's a lot at stake.

Immediately after the Mt. Gox collapse, Coinbase invited Andreas Antonopoulos, a noted bitcoin developer and head of security for Blockchain.info, to check its security procedures.

Antonopoulos came away satisfied with Coinbase's practices, but McGeehan's new role as Director of Security Incident Response will bring to Coinbase more expertise in this area and should further reassure users and investors that the company is doing the right thing.

Merchant draw

Along with Coinbase's role as a consumer-friendly wallet, it also provides merchants with bitcoin payment options. The company's payments API is used by a number of companies and organisations alongside normal POS systems.

Recently, the company has added technology-focused customers to its portfolio, such as Mint, Fiverr and Glyde. Big Fish Games is also a recent notable addition in the casual gaming sector.

The hiring of Edebohls as a business development executive should help the company bring new merchants on board and perhaps see its business expand into unchartered terrain.

Quick growth

Coinbase's success and ability to attract talent can be attributed to a number of factors. A banking partnership with Silicon Valley Bank and a stable method of bitcoin exchange carried out via Bitstamp have helped turn Coinbase into a bitcoin business leader in the US.

Verified Coinbase members with a US bank account are able to use ACH transfers to move fiat into bitcoin relatively easily. Furthermore, Coinbase's 'Instant Buy' feature, when used with a US credit card, allows customers to obtain bitcoin immediately.

These key component have piqued the interest of venture capitalists and Coinbase raised $25m in a Series B round last December, led by Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.

McGeehan says he is starting in April. Edebohls already lists himself as VP for a "to be announced" company on his LinkedIn profile.

Yup, I'm joining @coinbase in April. If you're working on BTC security anywhere, reach out so we can share ideas.





— Ryan McGeehan (@Magoo) March 20, 2014

Featured image via Twin Design / Shutterstock.com