Circle's Stablecoin Pitchman Joins Blockchain Startup Celo

Chuck Kimble, head of financial institution partnerships at Circle, has left the company for a similar role at another blockchain startup, Celo.

As Celo's new head of strategic partnerships, Kimble will be helping the digital payments company "To bring better financial products to emerging markets and under-served populations around the world," the company said in a press release.

"Chuck brings a ton of business development and digital payments experience to Celo and he'll play an instrumental role in encouraging the development and scaling of products globally," Celo founder Rene Reinsberg said.

"Chuck is highly respected in the financial tech industry and he understands how digital payment services can help people and families with no access to financial services."

During his tenure at the crypto trading and payments firm, he led business development and promotion of USDC, a cryptocurrency designed to hold its value with the U.S. dollar, or stablecoin.

"Chuck joined Circle to lead our FI partnerships efforts and participate in a variety of projects, including work on the adoption of USDC. In his short time with the company, he helped to drive USDC adoption across a diverse cross-section of the crypto industry."

"I've spent the vast majority of my career advancing digital payments and I see tremendous opportunity for Celo to improve the livelihood of billions of people around the world who today are involuntarily detached from the global financial system," Kimble said in Celo's press release.

In September, Celo added another top manager to its team when former Ripple general counsel Brynly Llyr joined the startup in the same role.

He helped "Develop" the business around the USDC stablecoin by promoting it to other companies, but he did not build the coin itself.

His official title at Circle was head of financial institution partnerships - not all partnerships, as his new employer Celo phrased it in a press release.