Jose Fernande Sda Ponte, formerly the blockchain director for PayPal, left the fintech giant where he oversaw the deployment of digital currency and stubcoin and became president and chief growth officer of the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF).
The foundation also said it has appointed former block and former blockchain executive Jason Kirsch as chief marketing officer.
Stellar Blockchain operates cash-on and off-ramp networks via MoneyGram and employs real-world assets with partners, including Franklin Templeton. But going back over the decade, Stellar has kept humanitarian duties in mind, such as improving financial inclusion in the county’s development.
“I believe blockchain is an artifact for the community of people we work with in a decentralized way to solve problems,” he said in an interview. “And if the problem you’re trying to address is one that I’m interested in, there’s no better place to tackle it.”
Karsh, who also holds roles at Coinbase and the security company BlockAid, will put together brand, product and ecosystem strategies to strengthen Stellar’s presence with developers, institutions and the public.
“Stellar is not just another blockchain project, it is a financial infrastructure used daily by institutions and individuals around the world,” Karsh said in a statement. “Our job is to accelerate the recruitment and use of all organizations, builders and blockchain enthusiasts who care about enterprise-grade security, transaction speeds and ease of programmability builders expect.”
Before Fernández Da Ponte, who worked for Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), and PayPal, McKinsey led the strategic launch of payment company Pyusd Stablecoin.
Asked if there was a stomach that would stay in the trench due to the subsequent stubcoin war, Fernandez da Ponte said the move to Stellar was to choose to work in the infrastructure layer and allow applications like Stablecoins to run at scale.
“The Stable Coin War will be interesting,” Fernandez da Ponte said. “But we need to have technology primitives in place for those steel coins to be useful, so working at the blockchain level is extremely important.”
Stellar’s Lumen (XLM) tokens rose 38% this year, surpassing the Coindesk 20 index, which added 27%.