Chris Larsen

Chris Larsen — an American entrepreneur and angel investor, known for his role in co-founding Ripple, global payments and digital asset exchange platform.

Personal Stats

Age:	63
Source of wealth:	Entrepreneur, Investor
Residence:	USA
Citizenship:	USA
Marital status:	Unknown
Education:	San Francisco State University

Education

He attended San Francisco State University, where he earned a degree in international business and accounting in 1984.

Career

After graduating from college, he worked in a variety of finance and technology roles, including at Chevron and E-LOAN, an online lender that he had co-founded in 1997.

Larsen was one of the co-founders of the peer-to-peer lending network Prosper in 2004, where he served as the company's CEO until 2012. By 2008, Prosper had facilitated over $120 million in loans with an average loan amount of $7,000 During his tenure, Prosper evolved into one of the most successful and widespread online loan marketplaces in the United States.However, Prosper soon faced regulatory opposition from the SEC, prompting the company to change its business model and use pre-set rates based on a formula that evaluated each prospective borrower's credit risk.

Larsen co-founded OpenCoin in September 2012, which developed a new payment protocol called Ripple. In September 2013, OpenCoin changed its name to Ripple Labs, Inc., and Larsen remained the CEO. The infrastructure that Ripple provides enables the immediate settlement of international payments and has been used by a large number of banks and other financial institutions all around the world. Ripple has also created XRP, a digital currency used for cross-border payments. XRP is designed to facilitate fast and efficient payments on the Ripple network, and it has been adopted by a growing number of financial institutions and payment providers. Ripple has emerged as one of the most notable blockchain firms in the world with partnerships with major financial institutions and a market capitalization of billions of dollars.

Larsen is currently involved in a legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020, alleging that the company's initial coin offering was an unlawful offer and sale of unregistered securities. Larsen and Ripple have both denied the allegations. To support the crypto industry, Larsen has launched a new campaign called "Change the Code, Not the Climate", which aims to reduce the carbon footprint of Bitcoin. The campaign focuses on the need for the Bitcoin community to reduce its energy consumption, which is currently one of the main contributors to global warming.

Personal Life

Chris Larsen was born in San Francisco, California, in 1960. His mother was a freelance illustrator, while his father was an airplane mechanic at San Francisco International Airport for United Airlines.