Zach Abrams posted on X at 17:50 UTC on September 24, 2026 that he was leaving Stripe to run Open Standard full time1. Abrams had co-founded Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion in 2024. He had served as its chief executive, KuCoin's news desk reported the next day, citing ME News2.
18 CEO exits on the record in 2026 so far
CEO exits CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2026: 18
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 7 |
| 2020 | 9 |
| 2021 | 5 |
| 2022 | 18 |
| 2023 | 11 |
| 2024 | 20 |
| 2025 | 20 |
| 2026 | 18 |
Trading Venues & Brokerage led CEO exits in 2026, with two
CEO exits CryptoLately has verified in 2026, by the sector of the company
- Stablecoins & Payments: 1
- Trading Venues & Brokerage, Capital Markets & Treasury, Wallets & Consumer Apps, Layer 1s & Infrastructure
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Trading Venues & Brokerage | 2 |
| Capital Markets & Treasury | 2 |
| Wallets & Consumer Apps | 1 |
| Layer 1s & Infrastructure | 1 |
| Stablecoins & Payments | 1 |
The move
Abrams named the limit his old company kept running into. "I'm leaving stripe to run Open Standard full time," he wrote. “at bridge, we made stablecoins more accessible. but our impact was constrained by issuers' economics and incentives.”1 He closed the post with his reason for the move: "The world needs better money. we hope to remove these constraints." KuCoin's item quoted the post in full and added context from Stripe's own acquisition record2.
ME News fixed the move to a specific clock. Its report, which KuCoin relayed, said Abrams would depart "on September 25 (UTC+8)"2. That instant matches his 17:50 UTC post. One clock reads as a U.S. afternoon, the other as the next day in Asia, but the two mark a single announcement.
Before and after the exit
Abrams had built Bridge's stablecoin infrastructure before Stripe's 2024 purchase, KuCoin's report said. It left the company's revenue split with issuers undisclosed2. Open Standard existed before Abrams's exit, too. Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify and Visa had already signed on as its five founding partners. Each held an equal initial equity stake, CoinDesk reported on September 303. Abrams kept both his Bridge title and his new one current in his own post. He named himself a co-founder moving to run a second company full time1.
What to watch
Open Standard's OUSD stablecoin went live on Ethereum, Solana, Coinbase's Base and Stripe's Tempo blockchain on September 30, 2026, six days after Abrams's post, CoinDesk reported3. The five founding partners committed more than $1 billion to establish its liquidity, and Abrams told CoinDesk he expects the founding group to grow to 10 to 12 companies. Its partner network already counted more than 200 companies by that date, including Japan's SBI Holdings and Swiss bank UBS. Each of those figures gives a reader a fixed point to check against OUSD's actual circulation the next time Open Standard reports it.
Sources
- Zach Abrams, post announcing his departure from Stripe, X, Sep. 24, 2026, https://x.com/zcabrams/status/2103180224972406830
- KuCoin, "Bridge co-founder Zach Abrams to leave Stripe and focus on open standard," KuCoin (citing ME News), Sep. 25, 2026, https://www.kucoin.com/news/flash/bridge-co-founder-zach-abrams-to-leave-stripe-and-focus-on-open-standard
- CoinDesk, "New stablecoin Open USD goes live as Coinbase, Mastercard, Stripe and Visa commit $1 billion to liquidity," CoinDesk, Sep. 30, 2026, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMizAFBVV95cUxOYUUyZzBReEpiOHdwYUFqREJuVGVFcUdVNjBnUkNOalpIMXE4b0pBV0swSW5GekFQRl9sNTRGWW05RV8xN2tPNUIzbEpoMFdBZGJUM3VvdDRPZkVQNjhCcXlLcEwxdHBEcURyUDhZNzU3QjRlQWg0U2xUc3dIRXNZNEFqdnVXQ1FlUF9RWE1oNEtuUGRoempiYUl4WkVxNEJzU3psWEhRQ1JSeGUzZVhCMDJqb0FFUHZJUU95bTRDUUkxel9tekNTM0Rfakg?oc=5