Xapo
 | |
| Headquarters | Palo Alto, United States |
|---|---|
| Area served | Worldwide |
| CEO | Wences Casares |
| Industry | Bitcoin wallet, cold storage, debit cards |
| Website | Official website |
| Launched | March 2014 |
Xapo is a Palo Alto, California-based company that provides a bitcoin wallet combined with a cold storage vault and a bitcoin-based debit card.[1][2]
History
Xapo CEO and entrepreneur Wences Casares became interested in bitcoins because of the frequent financial fluctuations in his native Argentina.[3] He has said that his family’s finances were “devastated as the economy (in Argentina) rocketed from inflation to deflation to devaluation.”[3] Casares believes that digital currencies such as bitcoin “could solve the disjointed nature of our world economy.”[4]
In 2011, Casares bought his first bitcoins but couldn’t find a way to store them, so he built a ‘vault’ for his own use.[1] Friends, and later financial institutions, soon asked Casares if they could store their bitcoins in his vault.[1] This became the foundation for Xapo, which was founded in late 2013 by Casares and COO Federico Murrone.[1] Xapo opened its products to the public in March 2014.[1]
Casares said Xapo was founded with the aim of making the bitcoin currency more secure and accessible.[3] The Xapo Wallet operates through a mobile app and online and includes the ability to transfer funds to and from the Xapo Vault.[3] In April 2014, Xapo introduced a debit card that will link to the user’s Xapo Wallet and will function like a standard debit card, except that it is backed by bitcoins instead of traditional currency.[2]
Prior to Xapo, Casares founded and later sold online brokerage firm Patagon to Banco Santander for $750 million.[5] He also launched the first Internet provider in his home country of Argentina in 1994.[6]
Security
The Xapo Vault consists of physical servers located around the globe that the company says is protected by biometric scanner access, 24-7 video surveillance, and armed guards.[1][2][4] The servers are in undisclosed locations underground, according to Casares.[7] The Xapo Vault is insured by Xapo Insurance Limited.[1] Casares claims that Xapo “is the first bitcoin vault fully protected and insured against hacking and bankruptcy.”[7]
In August 2014, Xapo announced it had raised $20 million to further support its security measures.[8]
Funding
Xapo announced $20 million Series A funding in March 2014.[3] The funding round was led by Benchmark, with participation from Fortress Investment Group, and Ribbit Capital.[3] Benchmark partner Matt Cohler said the VC firm backed Xapo in part because Xapo “is led by one of the most important people in the bitcoin ecosystem, it’s insured and has investors from both Silicon Valley and Wall Street.”
The company has raised a total of $40 million as of August 2014.[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Sreeharsha, Vinod (14 March 2014). "Start-Up Seeks to Capitalize on Security Concerns for Bitcoins". The New York Times (The New York Times). Retrieved 20 June 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Rusli, Evelyn M. (24 April 2014). "First Bitcoin Vaults, Now Xapo Debuts Debit Cards". Wall Street Journal (Wall Street Journal). Retrieved 20 June 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Swisher, Kara (13 March 2014). "Lemon Digital Wallet Founder Wences Casares Gets $20 Million in Funding for Bitcoin Startup Xapo". Re/Code (Re/Code). Retrieved 20 June 2014.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kim, Suzanne (14 March 2014). "Underground Vault Offers Bitcoin Protection With Armed Guards, Biometric Scanners". ABC News (ABC News). Retrieved 20 June 2014.
- ↑ O'Neil, Lorena. "For Micky Malka, It's All About the Money". www.Ozy.com. Ozy. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
- ↑ n/a, n/a. "Wenceslao Casares – Person Details". www.crunchbase.com. Crunchbase. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Calouro, Eric (13 March 2014). "Secure Bitcoin Storage Vault Xapo Ltd. Raises $20 Million in Funding". NewsBTC (NewsBTC). Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Popper, Ben (2014-08-29). "Meet the man building the Fort Knox of bitcoin". The Verge. Retrieved 1 October 2014.