Chris Larsen
Co-founder & Executive Chairman, Ripple
Chris Larsen is a co-founder and former CEO of Ripple, a distributed ledger startup.
Larsen has been in the news for being a victim of a significant cryptocurrency theft in January 2024, where unauthorized access led to the loss of approximately $150 million worth of XRP from his personal accounts.
Larsen's academic background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business and Accounting from San Francisco State University, followed by an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His career in financial technology began with the co-founding of E-LOAN, an early online lending platform, where he served as CEO until 2005.
In 2012, Larsen co-founded Ripple Labs, where he played a central role in the development and promotion of Ripple's digital payment protocol. Ripple's network is designed to facilitate cross-border payments using the digital currency XRP, which acts as a bridge currency to enable real-time settlement of transactions between different fiat currencies.
Beyond his work with Ripple, Larsen is involved in various philanthropic and advocacy activities, particularly those related to privacy rights and the impact of technology on the financial industry.
