Bitcoin-Technology Pioneer Larsen to Step Down as Ripple CEO
02 November 2016 - 12:50AM
Dow Jones News
Ripple, a startup that is building a bitcoin-style network that
enables banks to make cross-border payments, said Tuesday that
co-founder and Chief Executive Chris Larsen would leave his role at
the end of the year.
Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple's president and chief operating
officer since April 2015, is succeeding Mr. Larsen, who will remain
on Ripple's board as executive chairman. Mr. Larsen said in an
interview that he decided to step back from an operational role at
the company to spend more time with his two young sons.
"We've got customers all over the world. The requirements of
that as CEO [means] moving in the opposite direction of the balance
I wanted to move into," Mr. Larsen said.
Mr. Larsen is one of the most high-profile entrepreneurs in the
fast-growing financial-technology, or fintech, sector. Before
helping start Ripple in 2012, Mr. Larsen co-founded the online
lender Prosper Marketplace Inc.
Mr. Garlinghouse is best known in tech circles for his time at
Yahoo Inc. where he wrote a memo about a decade ago that came to be
known as the "peanut butter manifesto" since it argued that the
internet company was spreading itself too thin. He said there
wouldn't be any big changes to Ripple's strategy and that he was
looking to continue Mr. Larsen's momentum.
The San Francisco-based company is among the oldest and
best-financed startups attempting to use blockchain, a system
originally developed to record transactions involving the
cryptocurrency bitcoin, to handle a variety of Wall Street
businesses, including moving money internationally and settling
trades. In September, Ripple announced that it raised $55 million
in equity from an investor group that included the venture-capital
arm of the consulting group Accenture PLC as well as Standard
Chartered PLC.
"There is a tone of frankly hype around a lot of things
blockchain," said Mr. Garlinghouse. "We feel like we have a real
product where customers are benefiting from today."
Write to Peter Rudegeair at Peter.Rudegeair@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 01, 2016 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Altaba (NASDAQ:AABA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Altaba (NASDAQ:AABA)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024