{"version":1,"id":"pete-cooling","title":"Pete Cooling","summary":"Pete Cooling is a person that founded Atum and works on building open payments infrastructure and onchain payment systems.","content":"**Pete Cooling** is an American payments and [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) executive who is the founder of [Atum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/atum), a San Francisco startup that describes itself as an open payments network for global money movement.[\\[1\\]](#cite-id-5jbvqwoz2b) Before founding Atum, he led the crypto product team at Visa and represented the company in cross-industry standards work on digital wallets.[\\[1\\]](#cite-id-5jbvqwoz2b)​[\\[2\\]](#cite-id-ih9axn4boa)​\n\n## Education\n\nPete Cooling earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Business Administration from North Carolina State University (2009–2012). [\\[4\\]](#cite-id-AXaXMe5BEWV5aniH) \n\n## Career\n\nPete Cooling has worked in financial technology and [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain)-based payment systems, focusing on digital assets, payment infrastructure, and [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) settlement. He began his career at Coleman Research in 2013 as a Business Analyst, later progressing to Technical Product Manager and Director of Product Management. He subsequently held product leadership roles at Cliently, Carimus, proSapient, Abrigo, and Avalara, working on financial services, Banking-as-a-Service, automated lending, compliance, and payment systems. [\\[1\\]](#cite-id-5jbvqwoz2b) \n\nFrom September 2021 to November 2024, Cooling served as Head of Crypto Product Development at Visa, where he led product and engineering initiatives involving [cryptocurrency](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency), identity, payments, authorization, and clearing and settlement. His work included integrating [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) networks with existing payment infrastructure, developing cryptographic authorization and decentralized identity protocols, and overseeing cross-chain product integrations. From May 2023 to October 2024, he also represented Visa on the Linux Foundation's OpenWallet Foundation Technical Advisory Council, contributing to open standards for digital wallets, self-sovereign identity, decentralized identifiers, key management, and verifiable credentials. [\\[1\\]](#cite-id-5jbvqwoz2b)  [\\[4\\]](#cite-id-AXaXMe5BEWV5aniH)  [\\[2\\]](#cite-id-ih9axn4boa) \n\nCooling has stated that he viewed blockchains as payments networks as early as 2014, anticipating that onchain accounts could eventually serve functions similar to bank accounts. This perspective informed the development of [Atum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/atum), which he founded in April 2025 and leads as CEO. The company focuses on building an open payments network for global money movement, using blockchain-based settlement as infrastructure for financial transactions. [\\[4\\]](#cite-id-AXaXMe5BEWV5aniH) \n","categories":[{"id":"people","title":"people"}],"tags":[{"id":"Founder"},{"id":"Developer"},{"id":"Speaker"}],"images":[{"id":"QmVwAnaQWYRadLcFc8Ushs5MTHrz8e94ELtWpmoTFb4C7D","type":"image/jpeg, image/png"}],"media":[],"metadata":[{"id":"references","value":"[{\"id\":\"5jbvqwoz2b\",\"description\":\"Crowdfund Insider - Former Visa Crypto Lead Pete Cooling Launches Atum, an Open Payments Network\",\"timestamp\":1790496149315,\"url\":\"https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2026/09/312552-former-visa-crypto-lead-pete-cooling-launches-atum-an-open-payments-network/\"},{\"id\":\"ih9axn4boa\",\"description\":\"Cooling's Launch Announcement of Atum\",\"timestamp\":1790496157680,\"url\":\"https://x.com/PeteCooling/status/2102386246278389791\"},{\"id\":\"eq428o10ef\",\"description\":\"Pete Cooling X Account\",\"timestamp\":1790496168163,\"url\":\"https://x.com/PeteCooling\"},{\"id\":\"AXaXMe5BEWV5aniH\",\"description\":\"LinkedIn: Pete Cooling\",\"timestamp\":1790496132534,\"url\":\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/petecooling\"}]"},{"id":"linkedin_profile","value":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/petecooling"},{"id":"twitter_profile","value":"https://x.com/PeteCooling"},{"id":"main-image-origin","value":"{\"imageId\":\"QmVwAnaQWYRadLcFc8Ushs5MTHrz8e94ELtWpmoTFb4C7D\",\"originalId\":\"QmVwAnaQWYRadLcFc8Ushs5MTHrz8e94ELtWpmoTFb4C7D\"}"},{"id":"commit-message","value":"Create Pete Cooling wiki"}],"events":[{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Pinned post declaring crypto momentum","date":"2024-01-01","description":"Pinned post declaring crypto momentum.","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"02676664-5943-4906-8d49-9955d17ca072"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Atum out of stealth with $13.5M","date":"2026-09-01","description":"Atum announced out of stealth with $13.5M.","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"b3027aa7-b4e3-4aea-b4cd-c7c4e673eeba"}],"linkedWikis":{"founders":["atum"],"blockchains":[],"speakers":[]},"user":{"id":"0x8af7a19a26d8fbc48defb35aefb15ec8c407f889"},"author":{"id":"0x4a2bC97afBF41a2Cbf4b4628F63420682Ff4CF2a"},"language":"en","operator":{"id":"0x4a2bC97afBF41a2Cbf4b4628F63420682Ff4CF2a"}}