A press release notes that Uphold wants to be the world's leading cloud-based money platform, connecting the legacy and fragmented financial ecosystem with the future of money and finance. Uphold will be a members-only, member-to-member financial service for individuals, businesses, charities (including nonprofits and nongovernment organizations) and developers.

Watson, former Nike CIO and member of the exclusive Fortune 40 Under 40 list,joined Bitreserve as president and chief operating officer earlier in 2015.

"I am thrilled to join Bitreserve at such a pivotal moment in the evolution of cloud money and financial technology," he said.

Founded by CNET founder Halsey Minor in 2013, Bitreserve launched innovative features to shield its customers from the volatility of bitcoin by instantly locking deposits to a fiat currency selected by the customer, such as the U.S. dollar.

"Bitreserve is on a mission to democratize the use of digital currency by protecting businesses and consumers from the risks inherent in the bitcoin model," noted aForbes review quoted on the Bitreserve website.

In March, Bitreserve launched two new "bitcurrencies": the bitrupee (BitINR) and bitpeso (BitMXN), pegged to two key developing world currencies – the Indian rupee and the Mexican peso – that allow Indian and Mexican customers to hold their local currencies on Bitreserve.