# Stephen Pair

> Stephen Pair is the co-founder and CEO of BitPay, the Atlanta-area cryptocurrency payments company he started with college friend Tony Gallippi in 2011. A Georgia Tech computer science graduate who began programming on his father's TRS-80, Pair spent much of his pre-BitPay career in telecommunications and software, all while tracking cryptography and attempts to build internet-native money. His public record is defined less by speculation than by the practical plumbing of payments: invoices, settlement, refunds, wallets and software that merchants can use.

- **Role:** Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at BitPay
- **Organizations:** BitPay, IBM, Georgia Tech Advisory Board, Tech Alpharetta, YPO, Endeavor
- **Education:** Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded BitPay in 2011 and architected its original merchant payment platform., Built a career of more than two decades across financial and telecommunications software systems., Holds two patents in streaming analytics.

## Career timeline

- **c. 1978** — Began programming on his father's TRS-80 Model 1.
- **1994** — Graduated from Georgia Tech with a bachelor's degree in computer science and began his career in consulting.
- **1990s** — Developed an interest in financial markets, monetary systems, cryptography and early electronic-money systems including DigiCash.
- **2006-2011** — Worked at IBM as a senior software engineer and development manager.
- **Late 2010** — Read the Bitcoin white paper and began exploring a company built around the protocol.
- **2011** — Co-founded BitPay with college friend Tony Gallippi and architected the company's original payment platform.
- **2013** — As BitPay's CTO, led the technical team as the company expanded to seven full-time employees in Atlanta.
- **2017** — Led BitPay during a year in which the company reported processing more than $1 billion in Bitcoin payments.
- **2025** — BitPay processed hundreds of millions of dollars across nearly one million transactions.
- **2026** — Marked BitPay's 15th anniversary as co-founder and CEO, emphasizing practical crypto payments and stablecoin settlement.

## Achievements

- Co-founded BitPay in 2011 and architected its original merchant payment platform.
- Built a career of more than two decades across financial and telecommunications software systems.
- Holds two patents in streaming analytics.
- Helped grow BitPay from days with five or six transactions to nearly one million transactions in 2025.
- Served on the Georgia Tech Advisory Board and the board of Tech Alpharetta.
- Recognized as an Endeavor Entrepreneur and is a member of YPO.
- Helped establish and support open-source BitPay projects including Bitcore and the wallet originally known as Copay.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Published a 15th-anniversary reflection on BitPay's early days, reporting that the company handled hundreds of millions of dollars across nearly one million transactions in 2025.
- **2025-10** — Appeared in a CNBC segment highlighted by BitPay to discuss why businesses are turning toward stablecoin payments.
- **2025-08** — Discussed crypto payments with CNBC Crypto World as BitPay expanded its coverage of stablecoin adoption.

## Links

- Website: https://bitpay.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-pair-9a332b9
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/spair

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/stephen-pair
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-28