Former Coinbase COO Joins Blockchain-Based Lending Firm Figure

Asiff Hirji, the former president and chief operating officer of Coinbase, is the new president of Figure Technologies, the blockchain-based lending firm backed by Morgan Creek Digital.

Figure announced Hirji's addition Wednesday, saying the longtime financial executive will oversee the company's growth. Figure CEO Mike Cagney said in a statement the company would be creating a merchant bank with Hirji's help.

Cagney is perhaps best known for being the co-founder and former CEO of SoFi, the digital consumer finance company.

“Asiff has already been a critical adviser to me on how we manage the growth of Figure in order to drive the transformation of financial services across categories and around the world,” he said.

Figure raised $103 million last month, and has a valuation of more than $1.2 billion. The company has secured backing from MUFG, the Japanese bank's VC arm, Digital Currency Group, Libra Association member Ribbit Capital, DCM, HCM Capital, RPM Ventures and The Partners at DST Global.

Prior to Coinbase, Hirji served as president and COO at TD Ameritrade and operating partner at Andreesssen Horowitz. He said in a statement that he believes blockchain will reduce the costs of financial services.

"The opportunity now is to scale to more financial products and open this capability to all financial institutions. I feel fortunate to be able to help make the promise of blockchain a reality," he said.