Connor Fitzgerald, who built Stripe's stablecoin card program from zero to 100+ markets, has left the company. He oversaw sponsor bank partnerships, regulatory approvals, and international expansion.
Connor Fitzgerald, who built Stripe's stablecoin card program from a blank slate into an operation spanning more than 100 markets, has stepped down.
Fitzgerald announced on X that last week was his final week at Stripe and its stablecoin infrastructure business Bridge, ending a tenure that began shortly after Stripe completed its roughly $1.1 billion acquisition of the stablecoin platform.
He said he joined Bridge one month after the deal closed, at a time when no company had built a stablecoin card program backed by a sponsor bank. The early stages required building sponsor bank partnerships from scratch while working through regulatory and operational requirements on a market-by-market basis, he said. The team also created the infrastructure needed to support global expansion.
Over the following year, the program reached more than 100 markets, introduced the first stablecoin settlement flow in the United States, and increased annualized payment volume from zero to tens of millions of dollars, Fitzgerald said.
“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,” he wrote.
Fitzgerald served as Stripe's head of partnerships, working with payment networks, financial institutions, and fintech companies. During his tenure, Stripe expanded relationships with Visa to support stablecoin-backed card issuance for wallet providers and fintech platforms.
His departure comes as Stripe continues expanding the payments infrastructure it has built around stablecoins. Since the Bridge acquisition, the company has introduced new stablecoin products while extending regulated payment services into additional regions.
Bridge received both a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) crypto-asset service provider authorization and an Electronic Money Institution license in Luxembourg earlier this month, as previously reported by crypto.news. The approvals allow the company to provide regulated services across all 27 European Union member states under a single framework.
According to Bridge, the licenses let businesses issue custom euro-backed stablecoins, create named virtual IBANs, and offer euro accounts throughout the European Union without establishing separate banking relationships in each country. Fintech companies can integrate cross-border euro accounts through a single connection, while enterprises can use stablecoins to move funds between subsidiaries instead of relying on traditional correspondent banking networks.
In March, Visa said it was extending its partnership with the Stripe-owned company to launch stablecoin-backed Visa card programs in more than 100 countries by the end of 2026.
Fitzgerald said he concluded that the next generation of global banking would be built natively onchain. He did not disclose his future plans but said more information would be shared soon.
Stripe has continued integrating stablecoins into its broader payments business. The company combined Bridge's infrastructure with its own global payments network to support cross-border settlement, stablecoin payments, and card issuance for businesses and developers.
Stripe's interest in digital payments has also extended beyond Bridge. As previously reported by Reuters, the company joined private equity firm Advent International in June to submit a roughly $53 billion proposal to acquire PayPal. According to Reuters, PayPal's board concluded the $60.50-per-share proposal undervalued the company while also considering financing certainty, regulatory hurdles, and execution risks before deciding how to proceed. Reuters also reported that negotiations remained active, with Stripe and Advent continuing discussions despite the board's reservations.
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