Bitcoin-Technology Pioneer Larsen to Step Down as Ripple CEO

Ripple, a startup that is building a bitcoin-style network that enables banks to make cross-border payments, said Tuesday that co-founder and Chief Executive Chris Larsen would leave his role at the end of the year.

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple's president and chief operating officer since April 2015, is succeeding Mr. Larsen, who will remain on Ripple's board as executive chairman. Mr. Larsen said in an interview that he decided to step back from an operational role at the company to spend more time with his two young sons.

"We've got customers all over the world. The requirements of that as CEO [means] moving in the opposite direction of the balance I wanted to move into," Mr. Larsen said.

Mr. Larsen is one of the most high-profile entrepreneurs in the fast-growing financial-technology, or fintech, sector. Before helping start Ripple in 2012, Mr. Larsen co-founded the online lender Prosper Marketplace Inc.

Mr. Garlinghouse is best known in tech circles for his time at Yahoo Inc. where he wrote a memo about a decade ago that came to be known as the "peanut butter manifesto" since it argued that the internet company was spreading itself too thin. He said there wouldn't be any big changes to Ripple's strategy and that he was looking to continue Mr. Larsen's momentum.

The San Francisco-based company is among the oldest and best-financed startups attempting to use blockchain, a system originally developed to record transactions involving the cryptocurrency bitcoin, to handle a variety of Wall Street businesses, including moving money internationally and settling trades. In September, Ripple announced that it raised $55 million in equity from an investor group that included the venture-capital arm of the consulting group Accenture PLC as well as Standard Chartered PLC.

"There is a tone of frankly hype around a lot of things blockchain," said Mr. Garlinghouse. "We feel like we have a real product where customers are benefiting from today."

Write to Peter Rudegeair at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 01, 2016 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT)

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