Crypto-Fiat Bridge Expands: Lorenzo Pellegrino Takes Helm as Nexo’s Chief Banking Officer
Nexo just made a power play—hiring fintech heavyweight Lorenzo Pellegrino to smash the barriers between crypto and traditional finance. The ex-Skrill CEO now leads the charge as Chief Banking Officer, signaling Nexo’s aggressive push into hybrid financial infrastructure.
Why this matters: Pellegrino’s track record of scaling digital payment systems could finally give crypto natives the fiat on-ramps they’ve been begging for—or at least another VIP banking partner for the ‘digital asset elite.’
The move comes as regulators globally tighten screws on crypto-fiat gateways. Pellegrino’s hire suggests Nexo plans to outmaneuver compliance headaches by bringing in traditional finance firepower—because nothing reassures bankers like hiring one of their own.
Cynical take: Another day, another crypto firm poaching legacy finance talent to cosplay as a ‘real’ bank. But with Pellegrino’s Rolodex and Nexo’s war chest, this might actually work.
Nexo today welcomed a familiar face back into the fintech world: Lorenzo Pellegrino has joined the company as Chief Banking Officer. If you’ve ever transferred money with Skrill or NETELLER (and let’s be honest, who hasn’t?), you’ve already felt the impact of Lorenzo’s work over the past twenty years. Now, he’s set his sights on bringing that same blend of speed, security and real-world usability to the world of crypto.
Lorenzo cut his teeth at Paysafe Group, yes, the folks behind your favorite e-wallets, where he helped grow those platforms into household names for day-to-day payments. He knows what it takes to balance lightning-fast transfers with the red tape of global compliance, and he’s built teams across Europe, Latin America and Africa to do exactly that. At Nexo, he’ll be doing much the same: stitching together the rails that let you convert crypto to fiat (and back again) without a hitch, rolling out the new dual-mode Nexo Card around the world, and forging partnerships that keep everything above board in more than 150 countries.
“After decades in the payments and digital wallet space, I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it is to bridge convenience with compliance, speed with stability,” said Lorenzo Pellegrino, Chief Banking Officer at Nexo. “What NEXO is doing — unifying digital assets with real-world financial utility — is exactly the kind of challenge I thrive on”, Pellegrino added.
Co-founder Kosta Kantchev couldn’t hide his excitement, either. “Lorenzo joins us not just with DEEP fintech credentials but with a vision that aligns perfectly with Nexo’s trajectory. He’s built financial products that scale and last. That’s exactly what we’re doing — creating lasting value for our clients across every market we serve.”
Expanding On- and Off-Ramp Services
Those clients now number in the millions. Since 2018, Nexo’s platform has handled over $320 billion in transaction volume, and today it safeguards more than $11 billion in assets. The company combines high-yield crypto savings accounts, flexible loans, trading tools, and yes, that nifty Nexo Card that can switch between credit and debit modes, to give users real-life utility alongside yield.
In practice, that means you could borrow against your Bitcoin to buy groceries, earn competitive interest on your crypto stash, or seamlessly move money across borders with a few taps. And behind each of those moves? The banking infrastructure Lorenzo will help expand and refine.
It’s also worth noting that Lorenzo’s not just a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. Expect to see his byline in industry panels and thought pieces on how TradFi and crypto can, and should, merge into a single, user-friendly ecosystem. If you’re curious about where digital finance is headed, he’ll be one of the most reliable voices around.
All told, this feels like a classic fintech handover: a seasoned payments executive moving into the crypto sphere just as the technology matures. If the past is any guide, we can look forward to smoother on- and off-ramps, faster cross-border settlements, and a card that finally makes spending crypto feel as normal as swiping plastic. And, in a world that often pits “convenience” against “security,” Lorenzo’s arrival at Nexo is a reminder that you don’t have to choose; sometimes, you can have your CAKE and eat it, too.
