The Stellar Development Foundation announced on March 9, 2023, that it had appointed Asiff Hirji to its board of directors, effective immediately1. Hirji was president of MoonPay at the time. He brought "over 30 years of experience in financial technology and services" to the role, the foundation said. The Block's April 7, 2023 roundup of March hiring moves listed the appointment among the month's crypto executive moves2.
Five leadership moves at the Stellar Development Foundation on the record since 2019
Every move CryptoLately has verified there, by the day it became public
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| March 14, 2019 | Dixon became CEO. Denelle Dixon was named Executive Director and CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation |
| March 14, 2019 | McCaleb left as Executive Director. Jed McCaleb left as Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation |
| March 9, 2023 | Hirji joined the board. Asiff Hirji joined the board of the Stellar Development Foundation |
| July 16, 2025 | da Ponte became President. José Fernández da Ponte was named President and Chief Growth Officer of the Stellar Development Foundation |
| July 16, 2025 | Karsh became CMO. Jason Karsh was named Chief Marketing Officer of the Stellar Development Foundation |
Four board appointments on the record in 2023
Board appointments CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2023: 4
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026
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 | 3 |
| 2020 | 10 |
| 2021 | 10 |
| 2022 | 4 |
| 2023 | 4 |
| 2024 | 6 |
| 2025 | 20 |
| 2026 | 29 |
The move
Hirji framed the appointment around a complaint about financial services. "Financial services are still too expensive and too complicated," he said in the foundation's announcement1. “We can do better, and SDF is one of the only organizations in the space that is relentlessly focused on making cross-border payments cheaper and more efficient, leveraging blockchain technology.” He added, “I've long admired the work that SDF does, targeting high-value solutions that are accessible to everyone.”
Denelle Dixon, the foundation's CEO, answered with her own case for the pick. She said Hirji had been “on the forefront of innovative technologies in financial services and beyond, driving their development and adoption when they were nascent.”1 Dixon added, “He has a deep understanding of how to scale the real-world application of blockchain technology, motivated by the goal to bring down the cost of financial services.”
Before and after at the foundation
Hirji arrived with a long record in financial technology and crypto firms. He had served as president of Figure, a blockchain-based lender, and earlier as president and chief operating officer of Coinbase1. At Coinbase, the foundation said, “he led the launch of new assets and products and expanded into new geographies”. He had also worked with Andreessen Horowitz and, as chief restructuring officer, with Hewlett-Packard.
The new seat came with a stated purpose. Dixon said it would help guide “SDF and the Stellar ecosystem to deliver greater impact for more people”1. Hirji kept his MoonPay presidency alongside it.
What came next
His board career kept growing past the Stellar seat. oneZero Financial Systems, a trading technology provider, announced on October 1, 2025, that it had added Hirji to its own board3. The announcement called him a leader with “decades of experience scaling global platforms at the intersection of brokerage, banking and digital assets”. oneZero's announcement described his MoonPay and Figure roles in the past tense, "President of MoonPay, President of Figure Technologies," phrasing that places both jobs behind him two and a half years after the Stellar appointment. Hirji said joining oneZero's board followed being "introduced to oneZero's management team in 2024."
Sources
- Stellar Development Foundation, "Stellar Development Foundation Appoints Asiff Hirji of MoonPay to Board of Directors," March 9, 2023, https://stellar.org/press/stellar-development-foundation-appoints-asiff-hirji-of-moonpay-to-board-of-directors
- Yogita Khatri, "Coinbase Canada head, Algorand CFO highlight March crypto hires, exits and moves," The Block, April 7, 2023, https://www.theblock.co/post/225420/crypto-hiring-roundup-march-2023
- Gerald Segal, "oneZero adds former Coinbase, Ameritrade and Saxo exec Asiff Hirji to its Board," FX News Group, October 1, 2025, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiwwFBVV95cUxNVTdaNExKYVlWaU5Pa3hGSThHRldyZWJBejBjaXBabTBTam43RnQwUDZrR1BadVV1N0dkSTlqWUpHQlFqMzZOb2FHVlNfLU9ESFd2Rk1JOHZkVzUzU0V2OE5ZejBDeVlzZ0t5ZnlTUmV3WGJBRFJYZ0ptZXhNRnA1N1RRZEZOV0loX2dVRHctbEt2V2I5YjB5dHc5UG0xbURhaW4tMkNCY2dyRlJOXzRTUTQ5eDV5dWRLMlRtVlczNDlsbU0?oc=5