Forbes, the business magazine popular for its billionaire's list, has listed Ripple's co-founder Chris Larsen on one of its most popular rankings, earning him a spot on the cover of the magazine’s latest issue. The former CEO, who stepped down in 2016 and now serves as executive chairman of Ripple, enters Forbes’ list of wealthiest 400 at the 383rd place with an estimated fortune of $2.1 billion.
To create the list, Forbes evaluated the worth of each billionaire’s assets and stakes in public companies, according to the project’s methodology. But given the crypto's hyper-Volatility , Forbes provides ranges rather than precise figures.
The cryptocurrency market has grown exponentially last year but has entered a bear mode since January. During the growth phase, several crypto entrepreneurs became multi-millionaires and even billionaires.
Chris Larsen, CEO & co-founder, Ripple
Forbes estimated the net worth of the founder of Ripple, the third largest cryptocurrency at present in terms of market cap, at a bit over $2 billion based on his holdings of 5.2 billion Ripple tokens (XRP).
Currently, the Ripple’s crypto market capitalization is estimated at $19.5 billion, compared to the record high it hit in January 2018 at around $125 billion. The token itself crashed from $3.84 to below $0.50 as of writing.
If we do the math at the current price, we get the $2 billion figure, but when the XRP peaked in late 2017, Larsen’s net worth was estimated at nearly $60 billion based on his 17 percent stake in the Ripple company. At the time, Larsen’s XRP holdings made him the fifth richest person in the world.
Although Ripple is regularly grouped with other Cryptocurrencies , its purpose is different as it also operates a decentralized payment settlement solution for banks and financial institutions that is fast and scalable. Because its xRapid solution has a much shorter transaction time, there have been major companies testing the product such as Western Union and Moneygram, but none have committed to it fully.
