In Brief:
- David Marcus, the head of Meta’s cryptocurrency efforts, will be leaving the company at the end of the year.
- He intends to get back to his entrepreneurial roots to start something new and exciting.
- Novi VP, Stephan Kasriel will take over as chief of the crypto unit.
Facebook (now known as Meta) crypto fintech executive David Marcus is leaving the social media company at the end of the year. According to statements he made on Twitter on Tuesday, he intends to start working on something new and exciting.
Marcus also emphasized in the tweet thread that there is still a lot to do after launching Novi – and he is still passionate about the need for change in the payments and financial systems. For the time being, he has no intention of ignoring his entrepreneurial DNA, which has been nudging him for quite some time.
Marcus has been leading Meta’s crypto unit to develop a digital currency known as Diem and a wallet app called Novi. Last month, Facebook’s efforts received criticism from regulators and even central banks, forcing the company to stop its new crypto wallet. The decision to step down adds to more challenges for the company. He also informed via his tweet that Stephen Kasriel would take over and that he knows there’s greatness ahead.
In response, Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said – “We wouldn’t have taken such a big swing at Diem without your leadership and I’m grateful you’ve made Meta a place where we make those big bets.”
Mark also appreciated his efforts in building a great team and said – “I’ll miss working with you.”
In Marcus’ departure announcement on Twitter, he also stated – “I’m incredibly grateful to Mark for the opportunity and privilege to share a bit of the journey over the years. I’ll keep lifelong memories and friendships from my time at the company, and I wish it well in the years to come.”
Marcus has been serving the company since August 2014 after a two-year tenure as president of PayPal. His initial role at Facebook was as president in charge of the company’s Messenger service. He left the Messenger division to help in Facebook’s ambitious project to launch a financial unit in 2018.
