🧵 Before Interstellar joined
@veloprotocol, the
@StellarOrg connections were already there.
Jed McCaleb.
Mike Kennedy.
Signum Capital.
HashKey Capital.
And one of Asia’s most powerful business families.
Follow the breadcrumbs and an interesting story emerges about how Stellar infrastructure was being positioned across Southeast Asia.
And it started earlier than you might think. 👇
Let’s start with Signum Capital.
Singapore-based
@Signum_Capital, led by John Ng Pangilinan, became part of an early Asian blockchain investment network.
In 2018, Signum invested in Rate3, a tokenization project built around Ethereum + Stellar.
Signum’s role went beyond capital, helping projects connect with investors, advisors and strategic partners.
Remember that role:
Connector.
Around the same period, another Stellar connection was forming in Southeast Asia.
@veloprotocol emerged from the
@CPGroup_Live ecosystem, with Chatchaval Jiaravanon, a member of the family behind Thailand’s CP Group, at its center.
Velo was built around Stellar.
And Velo later explained that
@JedMcCaleb had been helping since the project began.
He became an advisor.
So the Stellar connection existed before Interstellar joined Velo.
Chatchaval’s ambitions extended beyond Velo.
He also became Chairman of
@lightnetgroup, building cross-border payment infrastructure across Asia.
Lightnet was powered by Stellar technology.
Its advisors included:
Jed McCaleb
David Mazières
John Ng Pangilinan 👀
Stellar’s co-founder and Chief Scientist, alongside the man behind Signum Capital.
Then, in 2020, Lightnet raised $31.2M.
Investors included:
HashKey Capital
Signum Capital
UOB Venture Management
Seven Bank
Hanwha
Lightnet said the funding would strengthen its investment in the underlying Stellar technology and expand its financial network.
The pieces were converging.
Now enter Mike Kennedy.
Before crypto, Kennedy was an EVP at Wells Fargo and built clearXchange, the bank-owned P2P payments network that later became part of Zelle.
In 2017, Kennedy says he was introduced to Jed McCaleb.
After numerous conversations with Jed, he joined SDF’s advisory board.
Then in 2019:
Kennedy became CEO of Interstellar.
Interstellar itself had been formed in 2018, when Lightyear and Chain combined to build financial infrastructure around Stellar.
By late 2019, Kennedy says Interstellar was already working with Velo.
The fit was clear:
Interstellar brought Stellar expertise.
Velo brought an established Southeast Asian partnership network.
Then came 2021.
Interstellar and Velo joined forces.
Kennedy became Velo CEO.
James Wu became CTO.
@JedMcCaleb called it a:
“significant step for the Stellar ecosystem”
with potential for more Stellar anchors and on/off-ramps in Asia.
This wasn’t presented as Stellar leaving the picture.
It was an expansion of it.
Later in 2021, Velo, TEMPO Payments and Bitazza launched a remittance corridor connecting 27 EU countries with Thailand.
Velo Tokens and Digital Credits were used, with transactions settled on Stellar.
Zoom out:
@StellarOrg technology + U.S. payments expertise + Southeast Asian financial networks.
Follow the timeline:
2018
Interstellar is formed
Signum → Rate3 → Stellar
Velo emerges from the CP ecosystem
Jed → Velo from its early days
2020
Lightnet → Stellar
Jed + Mazières + John Ng → advisors
Signum + HashKey → investors
2021
Interstellar + Velo
Kennedy → Velo CEO
Jed → more Stellar anchors + Asian on/off-ramps
None tells the whole story alone.
Together, they show how early Stellar-linked payment infrastructure was taking shape across Southeast Asia.
Just follow the breadcrumbs.