# Josip Rupena

> Josip Rupena is the Miami-based founder and CEO of Milo, a financial technology lender built for borrowers whose wealth does not fit the standard American mortgage file. After working with international clients at Goldman Sachs, GFG Capital and Morgan Stanley, he founded Milo in 2018 and developed digital mortgages for foreign nationals before expanding into loans backed by Bitcoin and Ethereum. His work sits at the difficult intersection of real estate, digital assets, underwriting and regulation.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Milo
- **Organizations:** Milo, Morgan Stanley, GFG Capital, Goldman Sachs, University of Miami, North Carolina State University
- **Education:** BBA in Finance, cum laude, University of Miami
- **Known for:** Founded Milo and built mortgage products for foreign nationals and digital-asset holders., Led Milo through a $17 million Series A in 2022, bringing reported equity funding at the time to $24 million., Was named to National Mortgage Professional's 40 Under 40 list for 2021.

## Career timeline

- **2005-2007** — Competed in men's tennis at the University of Miami after playing his freshman season at North Carolina State.
- **2007** — Graduated cum laude from the University of Miami with a BBA in Finance.
- **2007** — Began his finance career at Goldman Sachs, serving institutional private clients.
- **Before 2016** — Worked as a portfolio manager and head trader at GFG Capital, a registered investment adviser with about $1 billion under management.
- **2016-2018** — Worked as a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley, with a focus on international clients and financial institutions.
- **2018** — Founded Milo in Miami to improve access to US mortgages for global consumers.
- **2019** — Milo originated its first fully digital mortgage and opened an office in Colombia.
- **2022** — Milo launched its crypto-backed mortgage and raised a $17 million Series A led by M13.
- **2024** — Milo added a shorter-term crypto-backed loan product and reported SOC 2 Type II certification.
- **2026** — Milo reported passing $100 million in crypto-mortgage originations, including a $12 million single transaction.

## Achievements

- Founded Milo and built mortgage products for foreign nationals and digital-asset holders.
- Led Milo through a $17 million Series A in 2022, bringing reported equity funding at the time to $24 million.
- Was named to National Mortgage Professional's 40 Under 40 list for 2021.
- Helped launch Milo's crypto-backed mortgage product in 2022.
- Led Milo as the company reported more than $100 million in crypto-mortgage originations in 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — In an Inman interview, Rupena discussed why crypto-backed mortgages still depend on careful regulation and underwriting despite growing acceptance of digital assets.
- **2026-03** — Milo reported surpassing $100 million in crypto-mortgage originations, including a record $12 million transaction.
- **2025-08** — Rupena discussed Milo's custody, collateral and regulatory model in a CCN interview, and described tokenization as a long-term direction for financial assets.
- **2025-07** — Milo reported that its crypto-mortgage clients had purchased more than $80 million in homes and attributed more than $100 million in retained wealth gains to clients keeping their digital assets.

## Links

- Website: https://milo.io
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josiprupena
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/jrupena
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/milocredit

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/josip-rupena
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-22