Digital currency exchange startup Coinbase has announced the appointment of a Facebook executive to its board of directors.

In joining the board, David Marcus, vice president of messaging products at Facebook, will bring years of experience in building large-scale mobile products, according to a Coinbase statement posted yesterday.

Previously president of online payment giant PayPal, Marcus said that he has been "fascinated by cryptocurrencies since 2012," and that the technology "has the potential to materially change the lives of people around the world."

He joined Paypal after his own mobile payment startup Zong was bought up by eBay for nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in 2011.

Brian Armstrong, CEO and co-founder of Coinbase, said:

The announcement came the same day that Coinbase temporarily halted trading for litecoin and ethereum due to a "major outage" amid surging prices for both cryptocurrencies.

With bitcoin's price also rampant, the firm has been onboarding record numbers of new users, while the firm's iOS app has climbed to the top spot on Apple's U.S.-based App Store.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase. 

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