US police open investigation of MobileCoin exec murder

On April 4, Robert Lee, chief product officer of MobileCoin and developer of Cash App, was found dead in San Francisco. The police claim he was stabbed to death.

This discovery was made after the San Francisco police reacted to a stabbing report. When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered an adult male victim of 43 years suffering from knife wounds.

Police immediately called for medical personnel. The man was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries that were considered to be life-threatening. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of first responders and medical staff, the victim did not survive the attack.

There have been no arrests made. The police have requested witnesses and assistance from the general public. The investigation into this matter has already started.

In his account in a decentralized social media Nostr, the inventor of Twitter and Block CEO, Jack Dorsey, confirmed that the deceased was Robert Lee, who previously worked for Block. Dorsey referred to Lee’s passing as heartbreaking. He noticed that Lee was essential to Square and Cash App.

The CEO of the mobile cryptocurrency wallet business Abra, Bill Barhydt, said:

“Robert was a parent, the former CTO of Square where he built Cash App and the CTO of Mobile Coin. He was a generous decent human being who didn’t deserve to be killed.”

Bill Barhydt, CEO at Abra

Who was Robert Lee

In 2021, Lee was promoted to the position of chief product officer of MobileCoin. In the United Kingdom, a beta test version of the product was made available on the texting app Signal. It makes it possible for users to transmit payments to one another in the form of “digital currency” in such a manner that Signal cannot access or see any of the information related to the transaction. 

To use the service, users must acquire MobileCoin tokens first and then convert those tokens into fiat currency when the payment has been received. It was developed with mobile phones and Signal users in mind from the beginning.

CashApp was first developed by Lee in 2013. Via the app, users can transfer money to one another using the mobile payments app. In addition, it gives customers the ability to purchase, trade, and transmit bitcoin over the Lightning network by providing a wallet and a cold storage space.