Facebook balance created in part by the engineer, Morgan Beller

On February 12, 2018, Howard Wu, Silicon Valley investor and cryptocurrency technologist, was invited to Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park to discuss the implications, opportunities and risks of the introduction of more than $ 2 billion. of online users to blockchain technology.

The invitation did not come from Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, nor from the vice president and former PayPal executive, David Marcus, the current leader of the Libra cryptocurrency proposal and Facebook's Calibra portfolio. .

Instead, he met Morgan Beller, a new employee of the Facebook business development unit, who offered him a cup of Joe coffee from Philz Coffee on the campus of the company. ;business.

Beller's questions were fascinating, even far-fetched.

"If you had a platform of over 2 billion users, how would you go about trying to integrate blockchain technology into the platform?" , Recalls Beller. At the end of their coffee, one of many, Wu has let Facebook feel the same emotion and uncertainty.

"This was not a VP sitting at a table who was discussing the future direction of a project." It was very laid-back, but I thought it was an exciting prospect. Wu told CNBC. "It ended up morphing into what Libra and Calibra became."

Since announcing its digital currency Libra and its digital wallet Calibra in June, Marcus has been the face of both projects, announcing details in blog posts, conducting press interviews and testifying in front of skeptical legislators in Congress.

But in the blockchain community, Beller is known to have been at the root of Facebook's push into cryptocurrency. On LinkedIn, Beller presents himself as Calibra's strategy manager and co-creator of Balance – one of three Facebook employees to do so, alongside Marcus and Vice President Kevin Weil.

"Morgan was really the first, at least in my opinion," said Wu. "She did a fantastic job in getting other people in cryptocurrency communities to join Balance. added very disproportionate in addition to that. "

Facebook refused to make Beller available for an interview. CNBC has however met 10 technology industry professionals who have worked with Beller throughout his career in Silicon Valley, particularly with her since she joined Facebook and has turned to cryptocurrency in 2017.

Beller is a 26-year-old black haired woman, and people describe her as a charismatic, optimistic and energetic prostitute.

Before working with Marcus and Weil, she was the only person working on a Facebook blockchain initiative. For months in 2017, Beller spent time researching technology and meeting with industry representatives, according to Wu and another person familiar with the subject.

Beller was able to convince the company to take blockchain technology seriously. On May 8, 2018, the project was officially launched. Beller was working on the project alongside Marcus, who was previously responsible for Facebook's instant messaging service.

Over the next few months, Marcus and Beller have successfully recruited other Facebook talents, such as Weil, into their blockchain group, forming the team that develops Libra and Calibra.

Beller may not have a great reputation, but it has become a staple of crypto, said Bill Barhydt, CEO of Abra, a digital wallet startup in Mountain View, California. Barhydt said that Beller had spent a lot of time going around the crypto community, that he had met people like Wu and attended technology-centric conferences.

"She is a strong supporter of financial inclusion and the ability of cryptocurrency technology to have a very positive impact on underserved communities around the world," he said. "I give him a lot of credit for what appears to be a very methodical and long-term approach to solving this problem."

Facebook and Marcus have echoed these sentiments since the announcement of Libra and Calibra in June. Last week, in his remarks prepared before the Senate Banking Committee, Marcus said, "The status quo is not working for many, it is too expensive for people around the world to use and transfer their money. convinced that Libra can offer an economical and secure alternative. "

In addition, many people in the cryptographic community praise his efforts to amplify their reactions – both praises and worries – to his Facebook colleagues.

"Facebook has lost the benefit of the doubt of all the privacy and data breaches that they have committed," said Wu. "So, because of that, it's nice to have inside a person who strives very clearly to meet the highest standards. "

For those who have worked with Beller in the past, his rise in Facebook is hardly surprising.

Beller first held a leading position in the venture capital firm Andreessen Horwitz, where she was a partner of the trading team between 2013 and 2016. She showed her talent for the rapid network creation, company diligence and opportunity detection.

"Morgan is incredibly strong, has a keen sense of product and has always been insightful when we worked together," said Steve Sinofsky, a firm partner who was previously a senior executive at Microsoft.

After Andreessen Horowitz, Beller worked at Medium, the San Francisco company that allows writers to publish long works. Beller spent a year in the company's business development team. His greatest achievement was leading the acquisition by Embedly, a small start-up whose technology allows websites to easily integrate rich media, such as gifs.

"If you needed someone to find something, you'd say: Hey Morgan, go fix that." She would meet people, learn everything, understand the landscape and come back. present it, "said Edward Lichty, then head of partnerships at Medium and Beller's supervisor at the time.

"I've always thought Morgan would do great things, and it's not for me a surprise that she found herself on Facebook at the center of something as important as the Balance."

WATCH: Here's how to find out which apps have access to your Facebook data – and cut them