Written by: Thejaswini M A

Translated by: Block unicorn

Preface

The check was returned.

Fifteen-year-old Chris Larsen found that getting paid was harder than doing the work itself.

He ran a car dent repair business in his driveway in San Francisco. Neighbors brought over their damaged cars, and he used borrowed tools and the determination unique to teenagers to hammer out the dents.

He worked honestly and charged fair prices. But when clients didn’t pay, fifteen-year-old Larsen learned the first harsh lesson about how the financial system operates.

His father repaired airplane engines at San Francisco International Airport, receiving a paycheck every two weeks without fail. His mother illustrated for clients, but they often paid months later, or not at all. Both parents understood that money always flowed easily to those who were already wealthy, while being very stingy towards others.

This system was designed that way.

This frustration brewed for decades, driving him to create three companies worth billions of dollars. Each company challenged the parts of the financial system that viewed ordinary people as a nuisance rather than customers.

The Mechanic's Son Who Saw Through the System

1960, San Francisco.

Chris Larsen was born into a family that understood the value of stable work. Growing up in a working-class family meant he experienced the financial system from the perspective of the customer rather than the bank. When his parents needed a car loan or mortgage, they faced bank employees making decisions behind the scenes. The whole process was opaque, slow, and often unfair.

Why could some people easily obtain loans while others could not? Why did banks charge different interest rates for the same service to different customers? Why did decisions that could be made in minutes take so long?

These were personal dilemmas faced by millions of families, but few who had the power to change everything had experienced them firsthand.

After graduating high school, Larsen began studying aeronautics at San Jose State University, hoping to find stable engineering work. But he found the curriculum too narrow. So he transferred to San Francisco State University, switching to international business and accounting.

After graduating in 1984, Larsen joined Chevron as a financial auditor. This job took him to Brazil, Ecuador, and Indonesia. His experiences in global business operations allowed him to witness the workings of the international financial system firsthand.

But he needed to understand this system more deeply in order to change it.

In 1991, Larsen earned his MBA from Stanford Business School. His professor, Jim Collins, taught him how to build companies that could outlast their founders. These lessons resonated deeply. Larsen was not interested in short-term victories or trendy business models. He wanted to create infrastructure that would still matter decades later.

The Intersection of the Internet and Finance

In 1996, the internet boom was just beginning.

While most entrepreneurs were busy building websites for pet supplies or grocery delivery, Larsen saw a different opportunity. What if the internet was applied to the most traditional industry—mortgages?

He then co-founded E-Loan with Janina Pawlowski.

The concept was to put mortgage applications online, allowing borrowers to apply for loans without dealing with brokers who charged unnecessary fees.

At that time, most financial institutions operated as they did in 1976, requiring borrowers to visit bank branches in person, fill out paper forms, and wait weeks for approval decisions that could be made by software in minutes.

E-Loan's website launched in 1997, allowing borrowers to compare rates, submit applications, and track progress online. The company eliminated broker commissions and reduced processing time from weeks to days.

But Larsen made a decision. E-Loan became the first company to offer consumers free access to their FICO credit scores.

This was revolutionary. For decades, banks and credit card companies had used these scores to determine loans, but consumers could not see their own scores. The credit scoring system was a black box that determined whether you could buy a house or a car, but you had no idea what was inside. This initiative forced the entire credit industry towards transparency. If borrowers could see their scores, they could understand why they were offered specific rates and take steps to improve their creditworthiness.

In 1999, the internet boom peaked, and E-Loan went public. At its peak, the company was valued at around $1 billion. But Larsen was not interested in chasing the bubble. In 2005, he sold E-Loan to Banco Popular for $300 million.

E-Loan succeeded because it automated processes that banks handled manually. But shouldn’t we rethink how these processes should operate?

Breaking Free from the Banks

In 2005, Larsen was already contemplating his next target: the banks themselves.

What if ordinary people could borrow money directly from other ordinary people, completely bypassing the banks?

He co-founded Prosper Marketplace with John Witchel, the first P2P lending platform in the U.S.

What was the idea? Borrowers could post loan requests, explaining what they needed the funds for and what interest rates they were willing to pay. Individual investors could browse these requests and choose which loans to fund. The market would determine interest rates based on actual supply and demand rather than the opaque formulas of banks.

This platform democratized lending for both parties. Those with good credit could earn higher returns than savings accounts. Those with imperfect credit could obtain loans that traditional banks would not offer.

But Prosper faced a problem that E-Loan had not encountered: regulatory uncertainty. Securities laws were established decades ago when no one imagined that ordinary people would lend money to strangers online. In 2008, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled that P2P loans were actually securities that needed to be registered and disclosed. Many companies might choose to fight the regulators or look for loopholes. But Larsen chose a different path.

He did not confront the authorities; he collaborated with them. Prosper submitted a prospectus to the SEC and adjusted its business model to comply with securities laws. This allowed the company to weather regulatory challenges and continue to grow.

Because simply building better technology is not enough. You also have to help regulators understand why new rules are needed.

In 2012, Larsen stepped down as CEO of Prosper but remained chairman. He was already thinking about his next project. P2P lending showed him that technology could replace the intermediary role of traditional finance. But the truly ambitious goal was not domestic lending.

It was international payments.

Building the Value Internet

The idea for Ripple stemmed from a simple observation: cross-border remittances were still more difficult than sending an email.

International wire transfers took days, were expensive, and often failed for unclear reasons. In an age where information could travel the world in milliseconds, transferring money felt stuck in the 1970s.

In September 2012, Larsen co-founded OpenCoin with programmer Jed McCaleb. Their goal was to create a payment protocol that could settle transactions between any currencies in seconds, rather than days. The company underwent several name changes, becoming Ripple Labs in 2013 and simplifying to Ripple in 2015. But the mission remained unchanged: to build what Larsen called the "Value Internet."

Ripple's approach was different from Bitcoin, which was designed as an alternative to traditional currency. The technology developed by Ripple allowed traditional currencies to flow more efficiently. Banks could use Ripple's network to settle international payments without needing to open accounts in every country they operated in. The system used Ripple's native digital currency, XRP, as a bridge asset.

Banks no longer needed to convert dollars to euros through multiple intermediaries; they could simply convert dollars to XRP, transfer XRP to another bank, and then that bank could convert XRP to euros. The entire process could be completed in seconds.

During Larsen's tenure as CEO, Ripple signed partnerships with major financial institutions, including Santander Bank, American Express, and Standard Chartered Bank. You could call it a pilot project or an experiment. But banks were indeed using Ripple's technology to process real customer payments worth millions of dollars.

With the explosion of the cryptocurrency market in 2017 and 2018, XRP became one of the most valuable digital assets in the world. At its peak, Larsen's holdings were worth over $59 billion on paper, briefly making him one of the richest people in the U.S.

But Larsen learned from his previous companies that expansion required different skills than founding. In 2016, he stepped down as CEO, becoming executive chairman, and hired Brad Garlinghouse to handle day-to-day operations while he focused on strategy and regulatory relations.

Success was about to bring scrutiny.

The Test of Regulation

December 2020. The call every cryptocurrency executive feared.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple, alleging that XRP was an unregistered security and that the company raised $1.3 billion through illegal securities offerings.

This lawsuit brought nearly five years of uncertainty. The price of XRP fell, and exchanges delisted the token to avoid regulatory risks. Ripple faced potential hefty fines, and its business model was at risk of fundamental change.

Larsen could have quickly settled and moved on to other projects. Many cryptocurrency entrepreneurs would have done so. But he chose to fight.

Ripple spent tens of millions of dollars on legal fees, arguing that XRP was a currency, not a security. The company's lawyers pointed out that Bitcoin and Ethereum had been deemed non-securities by regulators, and XRP operated similarly.

This strategy proved correct, but it took years to achieve vindication.

In 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the programmatic sales of XRP to retail investors did not constitute a securities offering. This decision was a partial victory, helping to clarify the regulatory status of digital assets.

In 2025, the SEC dropped its appeal, settling for $125 million, a substantial fine but far less than many had anticipated. This legal victory validated Larsen's long-term strategy in building a cryptocurrency company.

Unlike many crypto companies operating in regulatory gray areas, Ripple had collaborated with regulators from the start. When regulatory crackdowns came, the company was prepared.

Throughout the legal battle, Ripple continued to expand its business. In April 2025, the company acquired top brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, adding trading and custody services. Ripple was also seeking a national banking license and partnered with BNY Mellon to provide custody services for its RLUSD stablecoin reserves.

Quiet Impact

Today, Larsen's influence extends far beyond the companies he founded.

In 2019, he and his wife, Lina Lam, donated $25 million worth of XRP to San Francisco State University, the largest cryptocurrency donation received by a U.S. university at the time. This donation established a chair in fintech and innovation and simultaneously funded global programs for students. The university has strict processes for accepting and managing donations. By working with these institutions, Larsen helped to normalize cryptocurrency philanthropy.

He also funded privacy advocacy efforts through the "Californians for Privacy Now" coalition. The coalition successfully pushed for California to pass financial privacy laws requiring companies to obtain consumer consent before sharing personal data. The campaign collected 600,000 signatures and lobbied major financial companies to withdraw their opposition.

Recently, Larsen has begun to focus on the environmental impact of cryptocurrency. In 2021, he launched the "Change the Code, Not the Climate" campaign, funding efforts to persuade Bitcoin miners to shift from energy-intensive proof-of-work mining to more efficient alternatives.

This stance has put him at odds with Bitcoin minimalists who insist that proof-of-work is essential for network security. But Larsen believes that if cryptocurrency wants to achieve mainstream adoption, it must address climate issues.

"This movement is not anti-Bitcoin; it's anti-pollution," Larsen explained. "We need to clean up our industry. The problem is not, as some suggest, to power Bitcoin with clean energy. We need to use limited clean energy for other important purposes. The issue is about changing the code to significantly reduce energy usage. This is the way forward for environmentalism."

His willingness to challenge cryptocurrency orthodoxy reflects the same thinking throughout his career: popularity is not always best.

At 64, Larsen still works six days a week while pursuing hobbies that reflect his clear approach to tackling complex problems. He and his sons restore classic cars from the 1960s, taking them apart and reassembling them from the chassis up. These projects take three years to complete, embodying his consistent attention to detail throughout his career.

He envisions a future where sending $100 from San Francisco to Lagos takes just seconds and costs only a few cents, allowing small businesses to access international markets without dealing with complex banking relationships.

His three companies have challenged different parts of the financial system that have failed to serve ordinary people well.

E-Loan made mortgage shopping transparent. Prosper democratized lending. Ripple accelerated international payments.

Each business succeeded by building infrastructure that others could use rather than trying to control the entire market. This approach requires patience and long-term thinking, which are rare qualities in an industry known for hype and quick profits.

In an era where cryptocurrency is often associated with speculation and volatility, Larsen has demonstrated that patient infrastructure building can lead to lasting change. His work is not yet complete, but the foundation for a financial system that serves users rather than institutions has been laid.

Money is becoming more like information—faster, cheaper, and easier for those previously excluded from financial services to access.

This transformation is still unfolding, but the direction is clear. Chris Larsen has been building the rails that drive this transformation.

This is the story of Chris Larsen. See you in our next article.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。