Former IG, Citi and Stater Executive Ramy Soliman Launches Stablecoin Startup

Ramy Soliman, the former chief executive of prime-of-prime broker Stater Global Markets, has co-founded Saleem, a stablecoin payments venture based in Abu Dhabi. He announced the project in a LinkedIn post on Monday. The company is registered in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) as 5 Lanes Limited and is run alongside co-founder Faris Sibai.

Saleem's stated aim is to let aid agencies, ministries, employers and banks pay people straight from their treasuries to a mobile phone they already own, whether or not the recipient holds a bank account. The venture is targeting remittance flows that still travel over bank rails. Pakistan, which lifted a seven-year ban on crypto banking in April, receives roughly $40 billion in remittances a year; the chairman of its virtual assets regulator said in August that reducing transfer costs by one percentage point would save about $400 million annually.

From prime brokerage to stablecoins

Soliman spent five years each at IG and Citi in sales roles before taking the helm at Stater for its London launch in 2016. The broker closed in 2019 after its parent stopped funding it, and he moved to GMO-Z.com Trade UK as chief strategy officer. From 2022 to January 2026 he worked at GMO-Z.com Trust Company, the New York-regulated issuer of GYEN, described as the first regulated yen-pegged stablecoin, and the dollar-backed ZUSD, rising to president, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also co-founded the Middle East Stablecoin Association in 2025. GMO Trust began an orderly wind-down of both tokens on May 15 and entered voluntary dissolution, with holders able to redeem at par until November 11.

Saleem's website says the service works through USSD and SIM Toolkit menus on feature phones, alongside smartphone apps and a desktop console. It lists Stellar, ADI Chain, Solana and Polygon as supported networks, and USDC and USDT as supported tokens. Stellar has hosted remittance projects before: MoneyGram partnered with the Stellar Development Foundation in 2021 to settle cross-border transfers in USDC and pay them out in local currency.

The service is not live. The website describes Saleem as pre-launch and not licensed to conduct regulated financial activities, with production systems, partner connections and security testing still to be completed. "We have spent this year building rather than talking," Soliman wrote. First corridors will run from the Gulf to the Levant and Pakistan through licensed and distribution partners, and he named countries that are rebuilding, such as Syria, among those he wants to serve. Saleem is part of the 2026 accelerator cohort run by the Stellar Development Foundation and CV Labs and is due to present at the foundation's Meridian conference in Lisbon in October. Soliman said the company has begun early conversations about a first external funding round.