Xapo secures additional $20 million in series A funding. Bitcoin card still a no show

Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term wallet and Cold Storage Cold Storage Cold storage is a computer system or mode of operation that is designed for the retention of inactive data, in this case private keys for cryptocurrencies. This helps put up resilient barriers against theft by hackers and malware, and is often a necessary security protocol especially dealing with large amounts of Bitcoin.In order to “own” a cryptocurrency, one must be in control of a cryptocurrency’s private keys. As such, private keys are long strings of random characters that can be used to se Cold storage is a computer system or mode of operation that is designed for the retention of inactive data, in this case private keys for cryptocurrencies. This helps put up resilient barriers against theft by hackers and malware, and is often a necessary security protocol especially dealing with large amounts of Bitcoin.In order to “own” a cryptocurrency, one must be in control of a cryptocurrency’s private keys. As such, private keys are long strings of random characters that can be used to se Read this Term solution Xapo has recently secured a record series A funding totaling to $40 million.

The new round of funding was led by venture capital (VC) firms Index Ventures and Greylock Partners, and included investments from venture capitalist Yuri Milner, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, resulting in funding to the amount of $20 million. This is added the original $20 million provided by Benchmark, Fortress Investment Group, and Ribbit Capital back in March 2014.

According to a post on Xapo’s blog regarding the new round of funding, CEO Wences Casares has stated the new capital will help insure the development and maintenance of a framework for consumers to securely use Bitcoin in their daily lives. Also, the firm has appointed 2 new board observers in the form of Reid Hoffman and Mike Volpi. According to Casares the new observers both “have a proven history of recognizing emerging technologies before they reach the masses”, as a result of their previous tech oriented positions.

“Looking ahead, we will continue to invest the funds in building our team and our suite of services. We are committed to developing the framework that allow bitcoins to be used by consumers in their everyday lives while also continuing to offer highly secure bitcoin storage for Wall Street funds, exchanges, and financial institutions handling bitcoins,” Casares stated in the blog post.

But where is Xapo’s BTC card? In the beginning of June 2014 Xapo released a statement insuring the Xapo card will be made available by the end of the month. June has since come and gone, but the card and the active financial entities behind it still remain a mystery. A recent email was sent out to users which pre-ordered the card, in addition to a updated FAQ, mentioning the card will be made available in July 2014.

“The Xapo Debit Card will be available in July 2014,” stated Xapo’s help section.

The card issuing firm and acquiring banks still have yet to be disclosed by Xapo. Rumors of MasterCard being the card issuing firm behind the BTC loaded card were thwarted after a spokesperson denied any connection with Xapo.

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