KAST Appoints Connor Fitzgerald as U.S. General Manager
Stablecoin platform KAST has appointed Connor Fitzgerald, previously of Bridge (now part of Stripe), as U.S. General Manager, following an $80M Series A, 1M+ users, and $5B in annualized transaction volume.
KAST, the global financial platform built on stablecoin rails, has appointed Connor Fitzgerald as its U.S. General Manager. The hire lands on the back of a strong run: a record $80M Series A, more than 1 million users, and about $5B in annualized transaction volume.
What the role covers
Fitzgerald will lead KAST’s U.S. business. His mandate is broad:
- Scale the core platform in the U.S. market.
- Launch KAST Business, the company’s push into business accounts and payments.
- Build the local team on the ground.
- Bring KAST’s next consumer and business products to U.S. customers.
This is a key hire as KAST scales to roughly 250 full-time employees across engineering, product, and compliance to meet fast-growing demand.
A payments and stablecoin operator
Before KAST, Fitzgerald was Head of Partnerships, Cards at Bridge, now part of Stripe. There he helped build Bridge’s global stablecoin card program from zero, establishing bank, network, and developer partnerships, expanding to more than 100 markets, and helping operationalize Bridge’s first U.S. stablecoin settlement flow. Earlier he led business development at Coinstar, launching its first off-kiosk fintech products, and was an early employee at Dave, helping scale the company from Series A to its 2022 public listing. In all, more than a decade building consumer financial products and partnerships across fintech, payments, and digital assets.
“Stablecoins force you to rebuild finance from first principles,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s why KAST caught my attention. What stood out was the company’s willingness to invest early in the hard things such as licensing, compliance, real infrastructure, and greater ownership of the underlying rails.”
“We’re excited to have Connor as part of our exceptional KAST team to scale in the world’s biggest financial market,” said KAST Founder and CEO Raagulan Pathy, himself a former Circle executive. “He brings deep experience from a variety of fintechs and knows how to dig in and drive growth.”
Why it matters
The traction is the headline. A stablecoin platform reaching 1M+ users and $5B in annualized volume shows how quickly stablecoin-powered products are finding real usage. The context is even larger: in 2025, stablecoin volume hit a record $33 trillion, exceeding Visa and Mastercard combined, according to Bloomberg and Artemis Analytics. The $80M Series A is fueling KAST’s expansion across North America, Latin America, and the Middle East, alongside licensing, compliance, and product work.
Founded in July 2024 by Pathy, KAST provides USD-denominated accounts and global pay-ins and payouts to more than 170 countries, built on stablecoin rails rather than legacy settlement networks. Bringing on a senior operator from the Bridge/Stripe world to lead the U.S., and standing up a dedicated business unit, points to the same shift we keep tracking: stablecoins moving from speculation to everyday spending, payments, and treasury.
To understand the pieces, see how stablecoin cards work, read our stablecoins 101 primer, or explore stablecoin payments more broadly. On the receiving side, see how to get paid in stablecoins.
Source: https://stablecoininsider.org/kast-selects-stripes-connor-fitzgerald-as-u-s-general-manager/