In a significant shift within the fintech landscape, José Fernández da Ponte, previously the head of blockchain at PayPal, has announced his departure from the company to embrace a new role as president and chief growth officer of the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF). Fernández da Ponte was renowned for overseeing the launch of digital currencies and stablecoins at PayPal, making his transition to SDF a key moment in both his career and the blockchain sector.
Alongside Fernández da Ponte, the SDF has also welcomed Jason Karsh as its new chief marketing officer. Karsh comes from a robust background, having held pivotal positions at Block and Blockchain.com, and is expected to play a crucial role in enhancing the organization’s brand and strategic outreach.
The Stellar blockchain, known for its innovative cash on and off-ramp network in partnership with MoneyGram, has made strides in tokenizing real-world assets, notably with entities such as Franklin Templeton. However, the foundation’s long-standing commitment to humanitarian missions—especially in enhancing financial inclusion in developing nations—shaped Fernández da Ponte’s choice to join the organization. In an interview, he emphasized, “I believe that blockchains are an artifact for a community of people working together in a decentralized way to fix problems. If the problem that you’re trying to work on is financial inclusion, which is the problem I am interested in, then there’s no better place than Stellar to work on that.”
Jason Karsh’s vision aligns closely with this sentiment as he brings his extensive experience from companies like Coinbase and Blockaid to solidify Stellar’s presence among developers, institutions, and the broader public. He stated, “Stellar isn’t just another blockchain project; it’s financial infrastructure that is used each day by institutions and individuals around the world. Our job is to accelerate adoption and usage for every organization, builder, and blockchain enthusiast who cares about enterprise-grade security, transaction speed, and the ease of programmability that builders have come to expect.”
Fernández da Ponte’s previous experience includes notable roles at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and McKinsey, and he was instrumental in the strategic launch of PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin. When questioned about the prospect of staying amidst the competitive landscape of stablecoins, he clarified that his move to Stellar is more about focusing on the foundational technology that will support successful applications like stablecoins at scale. “The stablecoin wars are going to be interesting,” Fernández da Ponte remarked. “But we need to have the technology primitives for those stablecoins to be useful, and that’s why working at the blockchain level is so important.”
In the backdrop of these developments, Stellar’s lumen (XLM) token has surged by 38% this year, surpassing the CoinDesk 20 Index, which has seen a gain of 27%. This trend reflects a growing interest and confidence in Stellar’s potential impact within the blockchain ecosystem.
As the Stellar Development Foundation embarks on this new journey under the stewardship of Fernández da Ponte and Karsh, the focus remains clear: to leverage blockchain technology in ways that empower communities and promote financial inclusion on a global scale.
