Bitcoin wallet and cold storage 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.

Join the iFX EXPO Asia and discover your gateway to the Asian Markets

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.

Suggested articles

Your Cashier Checklist – Time For an Upgrade!Go to article >>

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.

SOURCE