Worldwide peer-to-peer payment and cryptocurrency investment service Circle has hired Naeem Ishaq, a former executive at Boxed and Square, as CFO, Treasurer, and Executive Vice President of Risk. Last month, Circle made headlines when the organization took over the digital asset trading platform Poloniex. Up until December 2016, Circle operated a bitcoin marketplace and hosted wallet. It has since ceased offering this service and now offers cryptocurrency investments through its newly released app, Circle Invest. While this exchange allows participants to buy and sell several popular digital currencies, it is not a true wallet service, as it does not allow participants to send or receive virtual currency payments. However, the enterprise claims that it is planning to support cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals in the near future. Ishaq is joining the Circle team at a time of tremendous growth for the young firm. During the time period between last December and February, Circle facilitated over $75 billion in transactions, according to growth metrics released by the organization. Circle currently has over 7 million customers in more than 200 countries, and usage has grown by 450% in the past year. Circle has offices and personnel in Boston, Latest York, San Francisco, Dublin, London, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Beijing and Hong Kong. Notably, Circle has obtained $50 million in funding from the investment bank Goldman Sachs. In the blog post announcing the hiring of Ishaq, Circle co-founders Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire wrote, “At this pivotal stage, we are growing from a startup to prominent international firm, just as crypto goes from early adopter novelty into being foundational to the future of society and the economy.” Naeem Ishaq is familiar with the executive operations of fin-tech startups. Prior to joining Circle, Ishaq was the CFO of the Latest York-based e-commerce organization Boxed, and before that, he held the position of Head of Finance, Strate, y and Risk at Square, a firm that offers point-of-sale systems for businesses and merchants through smartphone and tablet technology. Ishaq also held the position of Senior Director of Finance and Strategy at Salesforce, a customer relationship management service, where he backed all M&A activity. In their blog post, Neville and Allaire also wrote, “While Naeem’s professional background is noteworthy and highly relevant for Circle, we are especially excited for his values, energy, intelligence, passion and mission-driven focus that is aligned with Circle’s goal of building a long-term technology enterprise with worldwide impact. Naeem’s thoughtfulness and moral compass resonate with the kind of culture we are seeking to foster here at Circle.” Hopefully, this acquisition of a talented latest member will help the Circle team achieve their goal of bringing user-friendly blockchain payment technology and cryptocurrency investment offerings to people across the world.