Jed McCaleb

Jed McCaleb is a significant figure in the cryptocurrency industry, known for his role in the development of Ripple and Stellar. He was one of the co-founders of Ripple Labs, but his departure in 2013 was marked by tension and legal disputes. The origin story of Ripple involves McCaleb bringing in Chris Larsen and Arthur Britto, with some sources claiming that McCaleb and Britto conceived Ripple Labs together before involving Larsen.

After leaving Ripple, McCaleb founded Stellar, which has become a direct competitor to Ripple. He held approximately 7.3% of the total supply of XRP and has been actively selling his XRP holdings, which has been a subject of discussion within the industry. His agreement with Ripple initially limited his daily sales, but reports indicate he has been selling significantly more than the limit since August 2018.

McCaleb has expressed critical views on the cryptocurrency market, particularly regarding projects he perceives as lacking technical merit. He has been vocal about the misallocation of capital in the industry and has criticized projects like Tron. McCaleb believes in the importance of public blockchains over private ones, emphasizing the transparency and security they offer for transactions between parties that do not know each other.