# Hany Rashwan

> Hany Rashwan is an Egyptian entrepreneur and 21Shares co-founder whose earlier ventures included social-commerce payments company Ribbon and lending infrastructure company Payout. He and Ophelia Snyder launched 21Shares in 2018, building crypto exchange-traded products for conventional investment accounts. He previously led 21.co; Russell Barlow took over as 21Shares CEO in January 2025, and FalconX completed its acquisition of 21Shares in November 2025.

- **Role:** Co-Founder at 21Shares; former CEO of 21.co
- **Organizations:** 21Shares, 21.co, 21.co Technologies, Ribbon, Payout, Kolena
- **From:** Cairo, Egypt
- **Nationality:** Egyptian
- **Education:** Bachelor’s in History, magna cum laude, Columbia University, Ohio State University
- **Known for:** Forbes 30 Under 30, Enterprise Technology, 2017., Co-founded 21Shares and helped bring HODL to the SIX Swiss Exchange in November 2018., Led 21.co at the time of its 2022 funding round valuing the company at up to $2 billion.

## Career timeline

- **2011** — Built Kolena, an online forum for civic ideas during the Egyptian revolution; participated in AngelPad with the business that became Ribbon.
- **2012** — Launched Ribbon, a social-commerce payments startup.
- **2013** — Ribbon introduced in-stream Twitter payments; Twitter stopped the integration roughly 90 minutes later.
- **2014** — Founded Payout, providing payment and compliance infrastructure for online lenders.
- **2017** — Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology.
- **2018** — Co-founded 21Shares with Ophelia Snyder; HODL listed on SIX in November.
- **2022** — 21.co announced a $25 million funding round at a valuation of up to $2 billion.
- **2025-01** — Russell Barlow succeeded him as 21Shares CEO as part of an announced restructuring.
- **2025-03** — Resigned as a director of 21Shares AG effective March 1, according to an issuer notice.
- **2025-11** — FalconX completed its acquisition of 21Shares on November 20.

## Achievements

- Forbes 30 Under 30, Enterprise Technology, 2017.
- Co-founded 21Shares and helped bring HODL to the SIX Swiss Exchange in November 2018.
- Led 21.co at the time of its 2022 funding round valuing the company at up to $2 billion.
- Built Payout, which Forbes reported had moved more than $50 million in loans in the year preceding its January 2017 profile.

## Latest updates

- **2025-11** — FalconX completed its acquisition of 21Shares; Russell Barlow remained CEO.
- **2025-03** — An issuer notice recorded Rashwan’s resignation as a director of 21Shares AG effective March 1.
- **2025-01** — Published an essay on crypto adoption, stablecoins, tokenization and safeguards for Quiet Capital.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ihany/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/hany

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/hany-rashwan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-16