We have two big pieces of news to share.

First, we’re spinning-out a new app-focused company, called Pogo, targeting interoperability between mobile wallets around the world. Pogo has been in stealth development here for some time, and, as a natural extension of that process, Adam Ludwin will lead this spin-out. As you’ll see when the service goes live, Pogo is the kind of application that Stellar is uniquely positioned to enable, thanks to the network’s ability to create low-friction, high-liquidity, real-time corridors for FX settlement between financial entities.

Second, and most exciting, Mike Kennedy, founder of Zelle, is joining Interstellar as our new CEO. Mike’s success with Zelle speaks for itself — it’s a payment system used by Chase, Citi, and Bank of America, among many others. His history of innovation in mobile payments, FX and banking, coupled with his track record as a high-impact advisor to Stellar make him the perfect fit to lead Interstellar.

We expect that Mike and the team he’s bringing in will build powerful new services for Stellar, just as he scaled and built Zelle. Below are a few words from Mike about why he is joining Interstellar and the future we’ll be working toward: