mebeeraz

🧵 PayPal, Stripe, Stellar, Velo, Paxos. This starts looking a lot less random once you follow the people, the capital, and the payment rails. Because the same names and infrastructure lanes keep showing up again and again. Start with PayPal. Peter Thiel and Elon Musk were two of the key figures behind @PayPal Later, both became early backers of @stripe So from the very beginning, Stripe was already sitting inside a very specific payments orbit shaped by people who had already helped build one of the most important payment companies in the world. That matters because Stripe did not remain disconnected from the rest of this story. In 2014, Stripe provided Stellar’s foundation with a $3 million loan, later repaid with 2 billion lumens. Patrick Collison/ @patrickc was also part of Stellar’s early foundation structure. That is not some distant coincidence. That is a real historical bridge. Then there is Jed McCaleb. He first co-founded Ripple. Later, he founded Stellar. So one of the most important builders in cross-border blockchain payments already links two major payment-rail narratives by himself. And the story does not stop there. Today, @JedMcCaleb is also listed as an advisor to @veloprotocol That matters because Velo itself has real historical roots in the Stellar ecosystem. It was originally built around Stellar as a fast and low-cost settlement layer for cross-border value movement. That Stellar connection was never random. Stellar was designed for currency exchange, banking integration, and cheap global settlement. Velo fit naturally into that environment and became part of the broader payment and remittance conversation around Stellar-based infrastructure. Only later did the model expand into a broader multi-chain and PayFi direction. Now bring @Paxos into the picture. Paxos is a regulated blockchain infrastructure company focused on stablecoins and enterprise-grade financial rails. And the overlap shows up again here too. Mithril Capital participated in Paxos funding rounds. PayPal Ventures did as well. So the same payment circle starts resurfacing on the stablecoin infrastructure side too. Then Paxos announced expansion to Stellar. That is a major signal on its own. Because it shows regulated stablecoin infrastructure moving toward a network already known for payments, remittances, and real-world settlement efficiency. And here is where the circle gets even tighter. In July 2025, José Fernández da Ponte joined the Stellar Development Foundation as President and Chief Growth Officer. He came directly from PayPal, where he led the company’s crypto and blockchain business. That is not a small detail. And the Velo-Paxos angle makes the overlap even more concrete. Velo Labs announced a collaboration with Paxos International to integrate Lift Dollar, USDL, as a treasury reserve and settlement asset inside its USDV framework. That turns part of this from a loose narrative into an actual infrastructure touchpoint. So Velo is no longer just a Stellar-era settlement story. It is now positioning around PayFi, cross-border payments, liquidity, compliance, and broader infrastructure, while expanding stablecoin support and moving toward a more institutional stack. So what do we actually see here? PayPal founders backing Stripe. Stripe historically linked to Stellar. Jed McCaleb linking Ripple, Stellar, and now Velo. Thiel and PayPal Ventures backing Paxos. Paxos expanding to Stellar. A former PayPal crypto leader now helping lead SDF. Velo collaborating with Paxos International on USDL. That is already enough to say this is not random. No, this does not prove one perfectly unified empire. But it does show that the same people, capital networks, and payment rails keep resurfacing across the same infrastructure lanes. At some point, that stops looking coincidental and starts looking structural. PayPal, payments, settlement rails and now even space. Musk with SpaceX. McCaleb with Vast

🚀 May is stacked for @XDCNetwork! From Miami 🇺🇸 to Switzerland 🇨🇭, we’re connecting with builders, institutions, and innovators shaping the future of blockchain. 📍 Don’t miss us at: ✨ Digital Asset Yield Summit 🗓 May 4 | Miami, USA ✨ Consensus Miami side events 🥐 Opening Bell: Institutional Breakfast 📅 May 6 | 8:00–9:30 AM 🔗 luma.com/OpeningBell 🤝 Institutions & Introductions with PI & XDC 📅 May 6 | 7:00–10:00 PM 🔗 luma.com/introductionsm… 🌟 Under The Stars – Closing Night 📅 May 7 | 7:00 PM onwards 🔗 luma.com/May7 ✨ Crypto Valley Conference 🗓 May 28 | Zug, Switzerland Come meet the XDC team on the ground, connect with builders & institutions, and be part of the future of blockchain. Let’s build, connect, and grow — see you there! 🔗 @XDC_USA @atulkhekade #XDC #Blockchain #Web3