Sharing Economy Startup Origin Hires Former Google Techie

Sharing economy startup Origin has tapped a PayPal backer and early YouTube staff as its most recent high profile employee.

Yu Pan, who is also a previous Google worker and the investor in Kiwi Crate, an instructive membership pack benefit for kids, is the company’s newest research and advancement engineer, fellow benefactor Josh Fraser told CoinDesk. His part will be to lead the research group as the startup keeps on developing.

As previously announced by CoinDesk, Origin’s open source convention encourages the advancement of distributed decentralized marketplaces that take out what it portrays as “rent-seeking middlemen” in other sharing economy services like Airbnb.

Fraser also proposed that the hiring has broader importance for the blockchain business:
“It’s a promising sign for the entire ecosystem that people with this level of experience and talent are starting to work on blockchain related projects.”

Origin co-founder Matthew Liu, another early YouTube worker, approached Pan about the position, which will also be his first blockchain try.

Pan has told CoinDesk that his choice to join Origin fits into his longstanding professional interests. He told CoinDesk that:

“During my career I’ve been oscillating between financial and media startups (with a dabble in kids’ creativity in between),” he said by means of email, adding that “for financial startups I’ve always looked for something that can create a seismic shift in the way commerce is done – I believe Origin Protocol can be one of those.”

Origin as of late is getting solid support from investors and a recent $28.5 million SAFT deal in April is just one such example. Well known backers include Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, former Y Combinator co-owner Garry Tan and venture capital firm Foundation Capital.

In December, the company also reported that it had sold $3 million worth of its tokens to venture fund Pantera Capital.