Cash App Founder Bob Lee Killed in Stabbing

The founder of Cash App has reportedly been killed in a stabbing in San Francisco.

According to multiple news reports Wednesday (April 5), Bob Lee, who had become the chief product officer at crypto firm MobileCoin, was fatally attacked early Tuesday (April 4).

A report by the San Francisco Chronicle — citing police department sources — said Lee was the subject of a statement issued by the department of a 43-year-old man found suffering from apparent stab wounds.

“Officers rendered aid and summoned medics to the scene,” the police report said. “The victim was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. Despite efforts by first responders and medical personnel, the victim succumbed to his injuries.”

Police said in the report that the death is under investigation and no suspects have been identified.

Lee’s killing drew outrage among people in the tech sector about the state of San Francisco, but also an outpouring of fond memories.

“He was made for the world that is being born right now,” MobileCoin’s Moby App said in a statement on the company website. “Bob was a child of dreams, and whatever he imagined, no matter how crazy, he made real. Bob was made for the new world.”

The statement outlined Lee’s resume, which includes time at Google’s Android; his role as the first chief technology officer of Square, where he launched Cash App; and his work at MobileCoin.

Joshua Goldbard, MobileCoin’s founder, tweeted Wednesday that Lee was “like a brother.”

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.@crazybob was an incredible human being. Saying bob’s name in the past tense feels ridiculous.

I don’t even know where to begin.

— Joshua Goldbard (@ThePBXGuy) April 5, 2023

“He came into my life like a fever dream and helped build @moby_app,” Goldbard said in a Twitter thread. “He was a founder again. Moby was his dream, his vision. Bob believed that we have a right to privacy in the 21st century. That belief is Moby.”

That belief in privacy was on display last year when MobileCoin teamed with stablecoin platform Reserve to make a new stablecoin called Electronic Dollars (eUSD), focused on protecting users’ private transactional data.

eUSD is backed by numerous other stablecoins, such as USD Coin, Pax dollar and trueUSD, with all transactions encrypted with end-to-end zero-knowledge encryption, so that only the transaction parties can see their own data.

In his tribute, however, Goldbard went beyond Lee’s tech accomplishments.

“Bob was an artist,” he tweeted. “Everywhere he went Bob breathed love into this world. He had so much deep heartfelt love. Traveling with Bob was like seeing the world for the first time.”