# Arnold Lee

> Arnold Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Sphere Labs, the software company behind SpherePay, a cross-border stablecoin payments API, and SphereNet, a Solana-virtual-machine settlement ledger built for regulated fintechs. A Columbia computer science grad who first stumbled into Bitcoin in 2009 trying to buy video games, he spent his early career in embedded systems for IoT startups before incorporating Sphere a week after the FTX collapse, off the back of a global Stripe hackathon win and a stint in Jump Crypto's incubator. Sphere now moves billions in annual volume through corridors legacy banking forgot - Latin America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and the Middle East - on the thesis that every payments company eventually becomes a compliance company.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Sphere Labs
- **Organizations:** Sphere Labs, SpherePay, SphereNet
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Computer Science, Columbia University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Sphere Labs, processing billions of dollars in annual stablecoin payment volume, Built SpherePay, a cross-border payments API using the 'stablecoin sandwich' method, Developing SphereNet, an account ledger built on the Solana virtual machine for regulated fintechs

## Career timeline

- **2009** — Discovers Bitcoin as a student while looking for ways to pay for video games with his younger brother
- **pre-2022** — Works in embedded systems engineering for IoT startups
- **2022** — Wins a global Stripe hackathon and joins Jump Crypto's incubator; incorporates Sphere a week after FTX's collapse
- **2024** — Raises seed funding led by Coinbase Ventures and Kraken Ventures to expand stablecoin payments
- **2025** — Speaks at Consensus Hong Kong and Solana Accelerate; SphereNet positioned as a settlement ledger for regulated fintechs; Sphere reaches billions in annual volume

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Sphere Labs, processing billions of dollars in annual stablecoin payment volume
- Built SpherePay, a cross-border payments API using the 'stablecoin sandwich' method
- Developing SphereNet, an account ledger built on the Solana virtual machine for regulated fintechs
- Raised funding from Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Jump, Hudson River Trading, Solana Ventures, Pyth, Anza, and Anagram
- Won a global Stripe hackathon and graduated from Jump Crypto's incubator program
- Established product-market fit in underserved corridors across Latin America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and the Middle East

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Spoke at Solana Accelerate 2025 on bringing international trade onchain with stablecoins
- **2025-02** — Featured speaker at Consensus Hong Kong 2025
- **2025-09** — SpherePay expanded multi-chain support beyond Solana

## Links

- Website: https://spherepay.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnoldhlee/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/arnold-lee
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25