Xapo is an international,
private bank
Private banks are banks owned by either the individual or a general Partner (business rank), partner(s) with limited partner(s). Private banks are not incorporation (business), incorporated. In any such case, creditors can look to both the "enti ...
headquartered in
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
and licensed by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.
The company originally provided a
bitcoin wallet combined with a
cold storage vault and a bitcoin-based
debit card and exited the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
market in 2021.
History
Xapo founding CEO and entrepreneur Wences Casares
Wenceslao Casares, also known as Wences Casares (born 26 February 1974) is an Argentinian entrepreneur and businessman based in Silicon Valley based fintech. He is the CEO of Xapo Bank, and founded Internet Argentina, Wanako Games, Patagon, ...
became interested in bitcoins because of the frequent financial fluctuations in his native Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. He has said that his family's finances were “devastated as the economy (in Argentina) rocketed from inflation to deflation to devaluation.” Casares believes that digital currencies such as bitcoin “could solve the disjointed nature of our world economy.”
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. Friends, and later financial institutions, soon asked Casares if they could store their bitcoins in his vault. This became the foundation for Xapo, which was founded in late 2013 by Casares and COO Federico Murrone. Xapo opened its products to the public in March 2014.
Casares said Xapo was founded with the aim of making the bitcoin currency more secure and accessible. The Xapo Wallet operates through a mobile app and online and includes the ability to transfer funds to and from the Xapo Vault. 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.
Prior to Xapo, Casares founded and later sold online brokerage firm Patagon to Banco Santander for $750 million. He also launched the first Internet provider in his home country of Argentina in 1994.
In May 2015 Xapo moved its headquarters from Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
The city was es ...
to Zug
, neighboring_municipalities = Cham, Baar, Walchwil, Steinhausen, Unterägeri
, twintowns = Fürstenfeld (Austria), Kalesija (Bosnia-Herzegowina)
Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo r ...
, located in the Zurich metropolitan area of Switzerland. That year LifeLock, which acquired Lemon, a company led by eventual Xapo founder Casares, alleged in a suit that Casares developed the source code for Xapo using Lemon's resources. In July 2017, Xapo was granted a European e-money license in Gibraltar allowing it to provide electronic fiat money
Fiat money (from la, fiat, "let it be done") is a type of currency that is not backed by any commodity such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender. Throughout history, fiat money was sometim ...
custodial and transfer services.
In July 2018 Xapo Inc. was awarded a BitLicense A BitLicense is the common term used for a business license for virtual currency activities, issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) under regulations designed for companies. The regulations are limited to activities ...
by the New York State Department of Financial Services
The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS or NYSDFS) is the department of the Government of New York (state), New York state government responsible for regulating financial services and products, including those subject to the Consol ...
and with it formal approval to operate in the state of New York as a regulated Bitcoin business. The company relinquished its license in January 2022.
In 2019, Coinbase
Coinbase Global, Inc., branded Coinbase, is an American publicly traded company that operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. Coinbase is a distributed company; all employees operate via remote work and the company lacks a physical headq ...
acquired Xapo's institutional custody business.
Security
The Xapo Vault consists of physical server
Server may refer to:
Computing
*Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients
Role
* Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...
s located around the globe that the company says is protected by biometric
Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify in ...
scanner access, 24-7 video surveillance, and armed guards. Casares claims that Xapo “is the first bitcoin vault fully protected and insured against hacking and bankruptcy.”
Investors
Xapo announced $20 million Series A funding in March 2014. The funding round was led by Benchmark
Benchmark may refer to:
Business and economics
* Benchmarking, evaluating performance within organizations
* Benchmark price
* Benchmark (crude oil), oil-specific practices
Science and technology
* Benchmark (surveying), a point of known elevati ...
, with participation from Fortress Investment Group
Fortress Investment Group is an American investment management firm based in New York City. Fortress was founded as a private equity firm in 1998 by Wes Edens, Rob Kauffman, and Randal Nardone. When Fortress launched on the NYSE in February 200 ...
, Pantera Capital, and Ribbit Capital. Benchmark partner Matt Cohler
Matt Cohler (born March 27, 1977) is an American venture capitalist. He worked as Vice President of Product Management for Facebook until June 2008 and was formerly a general partner at Benchmark. Cohler has been named to the Forbes Midas List ...
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
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
and Wall Street.” The company has raised a total of $40 million as of August 2014.
See also
* Bitcoin
References
External links
Official website
{{Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin companies
Private banks
Banks of Gibraltar
Chinese companies established in 2014
Financial services companies established in 2014