# Chris Larsen

> Chris Larsen is a San Francisco fintech founder, investor and civic activist whose career runs from E-Loan and the fight to open credit scores, through peer-to-peer lender Prosper, to Ripple's attempt to make cross-border value move as readily as information. Now Ripple's executive chairman, he also co-founded Rippleworks, established the climate-focused Clean Break Fund and has become a prominent donor to San Francisco civic projects.

- **Role:** Executive Chairman and Co-Founder at Ripple
- **Organizations:** Ripple, Rippleworks, Clean Break Fund, San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation, Avenue Greenlight, San Francisco Community Police Foundation, E-Loan, Prosper Marketplace
- **From:** San Francisco, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in International Business and Accounting, San Francisco State University, M.B.A., Stanford Graduate School of Business
- **Known for:** Co-founded three major financial-technology companies: E-Loan, Prosper Marketplace and Ripple., Made E-Loan the first company to provide consumers their FICO credit scores for free., Helped organize the campaign that preceded passage of California's SB1 financial privacy law.

## Career timeline

- **1984-1990** — Worked for Chevron, conducting financial audits in Brazil, Ecuador and Indonesia.
- **1996** — Co-founded online mortgage lender E-Loan with Janina Pawlowski.
- **1999** — Took E-Loan public.
- **2000** — Testified before Congress in favor of consumer access to credit scores; E-Loan became the first company to show consumers their FICO scores for free.
- **2001-2003** — Co-founded Californians for Privacy Now and backed a signature campaign that helped lead to passage of California's SB1 financial privacy law.
- **2005** — Left E-Loan after its sale to Banco Popular and co-founded Prosper Marketplace.
- **2012** — Stepped down as Prosper CEO and joined Jed McCaleb to establish the company that became Ripple, serving as CEO.
- **2015** — Co-founded Rippleworks with Doug Galen to support scaling social ventures with expertise and capital.
- **2017** — Moved from Ripple CEO to executive chairman as Brad Garlinghouse became CEO.
- **2019** — With Lyna Lam and Rippleworks, gave $25 million, largely in XRP, to San Francisco State University.
- **2023** — The SEC dismissed with prejudice its aiding-and-abetting claims against Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse.
- **2025** — Discussed succession, Ripple's enterprise strategy, climate work and San Francisco in a long-form interview on When Shift Happens.

## Achievements

- Co-founded three major financial-technology companies: E-Loan, Prosper Marketplace and Ripple.
- Made E-Loan the first company to provide consumers their FICO credit scores for free.
- Helped organize the campaign that preceded passage of California's SB1 financial privacy law.
- Took E-Loan public in 1999.
- Set out Ripple's 'Internet of Value' vision for moving money as readily as information.
- Co-founded Rippleworks, whose team says it has completed more than 450 projects reaching over 200 million people since 2015.
- With Lyna Lam and Rippleworks, made a $25 million donation to San Francisco State University in 2019, described by the university as the largest digital-asset gift to a U.S. university at the time.
- San Francisco State named him Alumnus of the Year in the early 2000s.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — A committee backed by Larsen contributed $500,000 in support of Theo Ellington's campaign for San Francisco District 10 supervisor, drawing scrutiny because of the size of the expenditure.
- **2026-07** — San Francisco approved acceptance of a $200,000 Chris Larsen Fund gift supporting Project Restore housing services for families affected by violent crime.
- **2026-03** — Forbes listed Larsen with an estimated real-time net worth of approximately $8.4 billion in its 2026 profile; the figure fluctuates with asset prices.
- **2025-07** — In a long-form interview, Larsen discussed why he handed Ripple's CEO role to Brad Garlinghouse, the company's enterprise focus and his work on climate and San Francisco issues.
- **2025-04** — Larsen was identified among major donors helping extend San Francisco's Downtown First Thursdays street event through 2025.

## Links

- Website: https://ripple.com/company/leadership/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/chrislarsensf

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/chris-larsen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-26