Scaling What’s Proven: José Fernández da Ponte Joins SDF as President & Chief Growth Officer

There are moments when entire industries shift — from laying the foundation to accelerating the climb. For blockchain and digital assets, that moment is now. And the person stepping in to help lead that next chapter for Stellar is José Fernández da Ponte.

As President and Chief Growth Officer, José brings unmatched experience in scaling financial infrastructure—from his leadership at PayPal launching PYUSD, to his work across fintech, policy, and emerging technology. He’s not new to blockchain—but he’s here for what comes next: scaling adoption at the protocol layer.

At SDF, José will focus on expanding the network’s reach through deeper partnerships, stronger launchpads, and the kind of strategic relationship-building that turns product-market fit into global traction.

I asked José to reflect on what brought him to SDF, what he’s learned from building at scale, and what growth actually looks like when real-world outcomes are the measure of success.

DD: You led PayPal’s move into stablecoins and digital assets. What’s the biggest lesson from that experience you’re bringing to Stellar?

JFP: Utility and trust. For digital assets to be widely adopted, they need to be more than just tradable; they must also be useful. That means solving a clear problem, being compliant, operating at scale, and deploying a user experience that just works. At Stellar, we have the opportunity to enable developers and enterprises to do just that – with an open protocol.

DD: From global banks to blockchain – what made now the right time to step into the protocol layer?

JFP: The gap between what is technically possible and what is widely adopted remains too large. We’re at a moment where digital public infrastructure can actually scale—if we build the bridges right. Having worked both in fintech and traditional finance, I saw firsthand that protocols like Stellar can serve as those bridges, not just to new technologies, but to new populations. I am excited to contribute to scaling the infrastructure from the protocol side, enabling more institutions, enterprises, startups, and developers to build upon it.

DD: You’ve worked with policymakers and regulators around the world. Where do you think the real leverage lies for driving adoption?

JFP: If you operate in this space, you need to understand both the technology, the economic systems, and the regulatory environment. And if you are going to work on something that matters, more likely than not, it is going to be regulated. Understanding those sensitivities, the need to protect consumers, and the imperative to drive responsible innovation - it is that alignment between regulation, market incentives, and utility that will drive adoption.

DD: What’s a misunderstood truth about building financial infrastructure for the people who need it most?

JFP: Financial infrastructure should be a public good, in the economic sense: everybody should be able to access it, and my use of it should not prevent you from using it.

That has not always been the case. In many parts of the world, entire populations are excluded from the financial system, and the infrastructure remains too insular, failing to travel well across geographies.

Building financial infrastructure that is truly non-excludable and travels well is the challenge of the next generation of technologists, economists, and policymakers. We operate on financial infrastructure that was built 50 or 75 years ago. That made sense, as with most mission-critical technology, you need to prioritize stability over speed.

But we are at a moment where we can now deploy technologies that increase speed and reduce cost by an order of magnitude, in the service of the least favored members of society.

DD: You’ve helped scale products used by millions. What does product-market fit look like in blockchain?

JFP: It looks like invisibility. When users don’t talk about the blockchain, but they do talk about how easy it is to send money, start a business, or access credit—that’s when you know you’ve got it. The tech fades into the background, and utility takes center stage. Consumers typically don’t talk about TCP/IP, Apache web servers, or Linux kernels. The best open technologies fade into the background.

DD: If you could only optimize for one growth lever across Stellar’s ecosystem this year, what would it be and why?

JFP: I am just starting, and I want to spend the first few weeks listening to our team members, partners, developers, and community to understand the needs of the ecosystem before I jump to that response. Distribution is a top priority, and meeting users where they are is a key element of what we do. That has been the DNA of Stellar over the years, and we need to build upon that tradition of excellence. As I start my listening journey, that idea of distribution and how we solve real problems together will be what I will be looking for.

DD: What’s the most counterintuitive thing about scaling trust in a decentralized ecosystem?

JFP: Borrowing from what Steven Weber said about open-source software, blockchains are an artifact of a community that exists to solve problems together. The community is the most crucial part, and different members of the community play distinct roles in various parts of the stack.

The underlying protocols provide the foundation that enables the technology to remain decentralized, community-driven, and freely accessible. And community involvement is fundamental to ensure that we can bring non-excludable financial infrastructure to institutions, enterprises, startups, developers, and the public. It should not be taken for granted or overlooked.

DD: What is one thing you’re bringing to SDF, and one thing you’re excited to learn?

JFP: I believe I can help us accelerate toward scale—I have spent many years taking ambitious projects and helping them scale into resilient products that operate globally and serve millions of users.

And I’m excited to learn how an open, mission-driven, involved community can move faster and more nimbly than even the best-run fintechs, financial institutions, and enterprises to solve large problems.

DD: What’s the most enduring principle you’ve used to lead teams across cultures and industries?

JFP: Embrace complexity, focus on strengths, build great teams and trust their judgment. Sometimes we like to focus on very simplistic, linear narratives that are easier to understand, but we risk missing the many network effects that are at play. Keeping that complexity in mind helps teams to remain grounded, be humble in success and recover quickly from adversity.

DD: What’s one app, book, or habit that’s totally non-work, but makes you better at your job?

JFP: I’ll give you a few books that were very important in my career: Complexity, by Melanie Mitchell, on understanding the value of complex systems thinking; The Open Society and its Enemies by Karl Popper, on the dangers of utopianism and the value of reason, individuals, the long game and gradual, critical change; and The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman on conceptual models, affordances and how to build excellent products.

I also learned more than I could ever pay back from the great Calvin & Hobbes, from comic books and graphic narrative in general, and from the beautiful game of rugby.