Former Stripe Head of Crypto John Egan Joins Polygon Labs as First CPO, Citing 4.5 Million Active Stablecoin Users

John Egan, formerly Head of Crypto at Stripe, has been appointed as Polygon Labs' inaugural Chief Product Officer. The move, announced on Monday, sees Egan transitioning to lead product vision and strategy for the prominent blockchain developer. He expressed his deep conviction that stablecoins are driving the most significant payments evolution since credit cards in the 1950s, making the opportunity at Polygon Labs "irresistible."

Egan’s decision stems from Polygon’s pioneering role as a scaling solution for Ethereum and its early leadership in stablecoin adoption. He noted that Polygon was the first stablecoin network supported by Stripe payouts in 2022. "I am especially excited to work with @sandeepnailwal and @0xmarcb, along with @Mudit__Gupta and @davidesilverman to build a product organization, catalog, and developer experience deserving of the Polygon global ecosystem," Egan stated in his announcement.

During his tenure as Head of Crypto at Stripe, Egan was instrumental in the fintech giant's significant expansion into blockchain. This included overseeing the $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin startup Bridge and the acquisition of crypto wallet company Privy. His departure comes as Stripe continues to deepen its crypto commitment, including the development of its own blockchain, Tempo, which will now compete with Polygon in the stablecoin payments sector.

Egan highlighted Polygon's strong position in stablecoin micropayments, noting 4.5 million active addresses transacting stablecoins in July, surpassing Ethereum's 2.9 million. This data, according to Artemis Analytics, suggests Polygon caters to everyday users rather than just large traders. Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, emphasized Egan's expected impact, stating to Fortune, "He’s going to be, frankly, very, very impactful on all our payments efforts."

As CPO, Egan will report directly to Boiron and focus on enhancing payment experiences across Polygon’s ecosystem, including building a world-class product organization. He joins a growing "payments dream team" at Polygon Labs, aiming to bridge technical possibilities with user needs. Egan concluded, "Today is day one for me at Polygon, but it’s also day 1,933 for Polygon mainnet. The ecosystem and community are already strong and ready to grow. Let’s build!"