Jose Fernandez da Ponte
Jose Fernandez da Ponte is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currencies, an independent business unit within PayPal. As Head of BCDC, he leads PayPal's strategy and delivery of products built on digital currencies, blockchain, and distributed ledger technologies. Jose has been involved in crypto since 2015. He has engaged with regulators and policy makers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia on cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies. Prior to rejoining PayPal in 2019, he held different leadership positions at BBVA, including as Executive Vice President of the New Digital Businesses unit driving financial applications of decentralized protocols. In addition to his work on digital currencies, he has 15 years of experience in payments and banking in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. He was a Consultant with McKinsey & Company where he specialized in financial services and payments.
Jose Fernandez da Ponte Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currencies
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Executive Vice President of Global Strategy
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General Partner and Head of Strategy - Emerging Markets
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Engagement Manager
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Technology Finance Portfolio Manager
Academic History
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M.S., Finance
Jose leads the BCDC team's crypto product, technology infrastructure, partnerships and regulatory foundations to drive continued growth in the space.
He also drives the company's efforts to increase access to digital currencies and expand their utility for millions of consumers globally.
Prior to his current role, he led PayPal's Global Business Development team and started the company's early efforts in cryptocurrency.
He also participated in PayPal's geographic expansion to China and Latin America and drove the company's strategic agenda in emerging markets.
CURRENT AFFILIATIONS
Member of the Global Future Council on Cryptocurrencies, World Economic Forum
Advisory Board Member, Blockchain Capital
EARLY CAREER
Jose was EVP of Global Strategy at BBVA, where he led strategy, business development and venture creation for the firm's fintech unit.
He was also part of the BBVA Executive Leadership team that drove the acquisition of Holvi and Openpay, and invested in R3, Atom Bank and SolarisBank.
He was the Co-Founder and Equity Partner of Quercus Equity Partners, a private equity firm.
He was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, where he led client engagements in retail banking, payments and capital markets in Europe and Latin America.
He also served as a Technology Finance Portfolio Manager for Hewlett Packard.
MEDIA & APPEARANCES
Jose has been featured or quoted in various financial media outlets and publications, including Bloomberg, Fortune, CNBC, The World Economic Forum, and Yahoo! Finance.
He has also been profiled in Blockworks, CoinDesk, and Cointelegraph.
He has appeared as a guest on Real Vision.