Guillaume Poncin Joins Alchemy to Spearhead Web3 Product Development and Scaling Efforts
Blockchain technology firm Alchemy has bolstered its team with the addition of Guillaume Poncin, the former Head of Web3 at Stripe, a prominent online payment processing and commerce solutions provider for digital businesses.
During his three-year tenure at Stripe, Poncin played pivotal roles in various domains, initially overseeing engineering for banking and financial products, and subsequently leading the expansion of the crypto team. Notably, he successfully launched a fiat-to-crypto onramp and a cross-border payouts product utilizing stablecoins. Prior to his time at Stripe, Poncin accrued 12 years of experience at Google, where he served as the tech lead for Google Books and Google Cloud, managing both engineering and product aspects at an educational gaming startup.
In his new capacity as Head of Engineering at Alchemy, Poncin will be entrusted with the technical management and engineering of the company’s existing services and novel products, as well as the scaling of their offerings.
Expressing enthusiasm about blockchain’s potential, Poncin remarked, “I am excited about the promise of blockchains to become the foundation for value exchange at Internet scale–global, fast, inexpensive, programmable.” He emphasized the concept of ‘blockchain inside’ applications that abstract technical intricacies from users and leverage blockchain technology seamlessly.
Poncin identified several use cases for this approach, including facilitating global stablecoin payments for creators and freelancers, as well as revolutionizing ticketing systems by digitally representing ownership on the blockchain.
He also highlighted the significant progress in adopting innovative technologies such as account abstraction and the emergence of layer-2 chains like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Polygon.
Poncin acknowledged the current challenges and complexities in the Web3 landscape but expressed optimism about developers’ record-paced contributions and the long-term growth potential of the ecosystem. He perceives Alchemy as playing a crucial role in this evolutionary journey.
Founded in 2017, Alchemy focuses on developing applications across various blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Flow, Polygon, Solana, Arbitrum, and Optimism. Often dubbed the “AWS of blockchain,” the San Francisco-based company secured $250 million in Series C funding in October 2021, with an additional $200 million raised in February 2022, propelling its market valuation to an impressive $10 billion.
In August 2022, Alchemy made its first acquisition by partnering with the Ethereum coding platform Chainshot, enabling the provision of free educational courses on Web3 topics.
Jason Shah, Alchemy’s Head of Growth, expressed excitement about Poncin’s addition to the team, highlighting that attracting esteemed leaders like him reflects the company’s strong momentum and positions them well for future opportunities.
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