Connor Fitzgerald has left Stripe after leading the technology firm’s push to build a global stablecoin card programme that now operates in more than 100 markets.
The executive, who headed stablecoin partnerships at Stripe and its infrastructure arm Bridge, revealed on X that last week was his final one at the company. His departure brings to a close a spell that began shortly after Stripe completed its roughly $1.1bn acquisition of Bridge, a specialist stablecoin platform.
Fitzgerald said he joined Bridge a month after the deal was finalised, at a point when “no company had built a stablecoin card program backed by a sponsor bank”. His role centred on striking the banking and card network agreements needed to get the product live, before taking it into new territories worldwide.
In its early phase, the project involved putting sponsor bank relationships in place from the ground up while navigating regulatory and operational rules on a country-by-country basis. Fitzgerald said the team also built the infrastructure required to support expansion on a global scale.
Over the following year, he said the programme grew to cover more than 100 markets, launched what he described as the first stablecoin settlement flow in the United States, and lifted annualised payment volume from zero to “tens of millions of dollars”.
“I also got to work with some of the best people in fintech, many of whom became close friends, while seeing up close how Stripe builds and operates at scale,” Fitzgerald wrote.
Role in Stripe’s stablecoin strategy
Alongside his position leading stablecoin partnerships, Fitzgerald served as Stripe’s head of partnerships, working with payment networks, financial institutions and fintech firms. During that period, Stripe deepened ties with companies including Visa to enable stablecoin-backed card issuance for wallet providers and fintech platforms.
His exit comes as Stripe continues to widen the payments infrastructure it has assembled around stablecoins on the back of the Bridge acquisition. The purchase was designed to accelerate Stripe’s stablecoin payments business, adding infrastructure that helps businesses move money over blockchain-based payment rails.
Following the acquisition, Stripe has rolled out new stablecoin-focused products while extending regulated payment services into more regions.
Earlier this month, Bridge received both a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) crypto-asset service provider authorisation and an Electronic Money Institution licence in Luxembourg. The approvals, reported by crypto.news, allow Bridge to offer regulated services across all 27 European Union member states under a single supervisory framework.
Bridge has said the licences permit businesses to issue custom euro-backed stablecoins, set up named virtual IBANs and provide euro accounts throughout the EU without needing separate banking partnerships in each market. The company added that fintech firms can plug in cross-border euro accounts through a single integration, while larger enterprises can use stablecoins to move funds between subsidiaries instead of relying on traditional correspondent banking networks.
Those regulatory milestones followed an expansion unveiled in March, when Visa announced it was extending its partnership with the Stripe-owned company. Visa said it aimed to launch stablecoin-backed Visa card programmes in more than 100 countries by the end of 2026.
Fitzgerald said that, in the period immediately after Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge, the company built much of the sponsor bank, regulatory and network infrastructure that underpins the programme before scaling it internationally.
Future plans and wider payments landscape
Looking ahead, Fitzgerald signalled that his next move will stay close to blockchain-based financial infrastructure. After working with dozens of stablecoin firms during his time at Stripe and Bridge, he said he had become convinced that “the next generation of global banking would be built natively onchain”.
He did not reveal details of his future role but indicated that further information would follow.
His comments come at a time when investment in stablecoin payment infrastructure is increasing, with payment providers looking to grow blockchain-based services alongside traditional rails.
Stripe has continued to integrate stablecoins into its broader payments offering while pursuing regulated expansion in major markets. The group has combined Bridge’s infrastructure with its own global network to support cross-border settlement, stablecoin payments and card issuance for both businesses and developers.
The company’s digital payments ambitions are not confined to Bridge. As previously reported by Reuters, Stripe joined private equity firm Advent International in June in submitting a proposal worth about $53bn to acquire PayPal.
Reuters reported that PayPal’s board viewed the $60.50-per-share approach as undervaluing the business and also weighed financing certainty, regulatory considerations and execution risks before determining its response. According to Reuters, talks have remained active, with Stripe and Advent continuing discussions despite the board’s concerns.
The proposed deal would combine PayPal’s crypto payment products, including the PYUSD stablecoin issued by Paxos, with Stripe’s growing stablecoin infrastructure developed through Bridge. Reuters also reported that Stripe and Advent had examined possible structural remedies to address any changes antitrust regulators might require if the transaction proceeds.
