Who is Chris Larsen? Biography of the world’s richest crypto billionaire

In today’s article, 247btc.net invites readers to explore the life and career of Chris Larsen, one of the influential figures in the cryptocurrency market. As the founder and CEO of Ripple Labs Inc, Chris Larsen was once ranked as the richest crypto billionaire by Forbes in 2018. This article delves into the achievements and impact of this prominent individual.

Who is Chris Larsen?

Chris Larsen is most well-known for his positions as the Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Ripple, a technology company. He was born in San Francisco, USA in 1960, and grew up in a family with a mother who was a freelance artist and a father who worked as an international airport technician.

In 1984, Chris Larsen attained a bachelor’s degree in international business and accounting. Subsequently, he enrolled at Stanford University and successfully completed his coursework in 1991.

After completing his degree at university, Chris Larsen began his career as an auditor at the major oil company, Chevron. His responsibilities included auditing financial activities in various regions of Asia and South America. However, Larsen ultimately decided to pursue further education and returned to university to obtain a postgraduate degree.

Career before 2012

How did Chris Larsen initiate his career and what is his perspective on developing services?

E-Loan project

In the year 1996, Chris and Janina Pawlowski co-founded E-Loan, which became one of the first online mortgage lenders in the United States. At the inception of E-Loan, the concept of providing a service that enables borrowers to access loans directly, without the need for brokers, was unprecedented. The founders, Chris and Janina, were motivated to execute this project due to their disgust with high fees and cumbersome constraints prevalent in the mortgage lending industry. Consequently, they decided to establish their own company that would leverage the increasing power of the Internet at that time to eliminate exorbitant fees associated with mortgage lending.

Chris and Janina initially met as colleagues at a mortgage lending company in Palo Alto in the early 1990s. They quickly formed a friendship and in 1992, they decided to leave their jobs and start E-Loan. The duo managed to raise $450,000 in capital and opened a small office in Dublin, California.

In the following year, E-Loan commenced its full-scale operations and by 1998, both Larsen and Pawlowski made the decision to switch their positions within the company. Larsen ascended to the role of CEO, whilst Pawlowski assumed Larsen’s previous position as Chairman of the company. This strategic move was initiated in response to the challenging circumstances that the company had encountered since the beginning of the year.

During the third quarter of that year, while negotiating a $130 million investment deal with Intuit that would have essentially reduced the control of both Larsen and Pawlowski over E-Loan, Yahoo presented them with a different proposal. Despite offering a significantly lower amount than Intuit, the agreement was approved because Larsen and Pawlowski were able to maintain substantial control over E-Loan.

This marks the beginning of a renaissance for the company, as it successfully executed an IPO the following year. As the new millennium dawned, E-Loan was valued at an estimated $1 billion in market capitalization. At this time, Larsen held the positions of Chairman and CEO of the company, a role in which he served until 2005 when he resigned as the CEO but remained the Chairman until the company’s acquisition by Banco Popular at the end of that year.

Prosper Marketplace project

Larsen’s subsequent endeavor after E-Loan was Prosper Marketplace, which he co-founded with John Witchel. Based in San Francisco, this company offers peer-to-peer lending marketplace services. Similar to E-Loan, it was the first of its kind in the United States and also eliminates the intermediary role as lenders and borrowers interact directly on its platform.

In 2008, Prosper Marketplace began to receive recognition as one of the top 50 most innovative companies of the year, as Fast Company named them. The platform facilitated over $100 million in loans. Due to disagreements with the SEC, the company had to adjust its operating model from variable rates to a system of predetermined rates. Throughout this time, Prosper Marketplace attracted significant investments from notable figures such as Tim Draper, Nigel Morris, and Jim Breyer. In March 2012, Larsen resigned as CEO.

Achievements in blockchain technology

Chris Larsen has remained steadfast in his determination to eliminate the intermediary financial hierarchy, which is responsible for numerous transactional costs. Both E-Loan and Prosper Marketplace embody this aspiration.

OpenCoin Project

Chris Larsen, after many years in the mortgage lending market, directed his vision towards a different financial market that has been severely affected by high transaction fees: the payment processing industry. Despite being the fundamental layer of mainstream commerce, the payment system has become difficult to navigate.

In September 2012, following his departure from the position of CEO at Prosper Marketplace, the individual in question co-founded OpenCoin. The company embarked on the development of the Ripple payment protocol, which was built upon the earlier work of Ryan Fugger. Ripple was designed to serve as a platform that enables near-instantaneous money transfers with minimal transaction fees.

Ripple Labs and the Ripple coin

Ripple serves the purpose of connecting banks and other large institutions, providing a platform for near-instantaneous money transfers through the RippleNet payment network with minimal transaction fees. The Ripple token, also known as XRP, is the original token of the Ripple network. Currently, XRP is regarded as one of the most potential cryptocurrencies in the market, with a current capitalization of $93 million and consistently ranking within the top 10 in terms of market capitalization.

In contrast to Ethereum’s transaction processing time of 2 minutes and Bitcoin’s 1 hour, Ripple only takes a mere 4 seconds to complete a transaction. This is due to its superior financial operating system, which has provided Ripple with several advantages and exceptional support from banks and financial institutions compared to most other cryptocurrencies available.

In September 2016, the largest securities brokerage company in Japan, SBI Holdings, made the strategic decision to invest $55 million, equivalent to 10.5% of the company’s shares, in Ripple. Since then, numerous major banks have signed contracts to use RippleNet, and the annual Swell by Ripple event has been held for the first time in 2017.

In 2017, Ripple achieved a remarkable growth rate as its value increased by a record-breaking 4300% while other tokens fluctuated. Subsequently, on January 4th, 2018, the exchange rate for XRP tokens reached an all-time high, and Chris Larsen became the wealthiest crypto billionaire of that time.

However, this surge was short-lived and the value of XRP plummeted by 76% within just one month thereafter. This decline also affected several other cryptocurrencies during the same period, which was attributed to the new regulations in the Asian market.

XRP initially entered 2021 at a low point and has since surpassed the $0.40 USD mark. Following this breakthrough, XRP has remained within a narrow range of $0.40 USD to $0.60 USD from the end of January until April 4th. The strong upward trend began from that point onward, reaching $1.80 USD by mid-April.

Chris Larsen’s asset value has risen to around $59.9 billion, placing him in the top five among the wealthiest 400 individuals in the United States, owing to his ownership of 5.19 billion XRP and 17% stake in the company. As of 2021, he has returned to the race by holding the 7th position among the richest billionaires in the country, with a net asset value of $6 billion, rising by over $4.7 billion, compared to his asset value of $2.7 billion in the previous year. Furthermore, despite the ongoing legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s allegations of violating securities laws, the soaring price of Ripple has contributed to his substantial asset growth.

Summary

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the biography, career and achievements of digital currency billionaire Chris Larsen, highlighting the Ripple project as one of his major successes. For further insights on the topic of digital currency, please continue to follow the channel 247btc.net for more articles.