Ripple Founder Pivots $1 Billion From XRP Fortune Into New Investment

Jed McCaleb, the founder of Ripple and Stellar (XLM), has announced plans to redirect a whopping $1 billion from his XRP fortune into a new investment outside the cryptocurrency space. The crypto founder and Silicon Valley billionaire is now turning his focus toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), aiming to build an AI system based on the human brain. 

In an interview with Forbes, McCaleb disclosed plans to allocate approximately $1 billion from his estimated $3.9 billion in XRP holdings to fund efforts focused on AGI. The move comes after he previously dropped $1 billion to build a private space station in 2025. 

The new investment is expected to come through the Astera Institute, a non-profit research organization based in California that McCaleb founded. Recently, the institute has increased its focus on neuroscience-inspired approaches to AI development. As a result, in addition to the $1 billion allocation for the core AGI project, McCaleb stated that he will pledge another $600 million specifically toward neuroscience research. 

The Ripple founder shared his ambitious goal of studying the human brain as a model for building more capable, potentially safer artificial intelligence systems. He noted that researchers at the Astera Institute intend to use brain-computer interfaces to record neural activity patterns in mice as they perform everyday tasks, such as navigating mazes. They would then record and use these biological data and insights to design completely new AI systems that go beyond today’s popular transformer models. 

In the interview, McCaleb expressed skepticism about current mainstream AI methods. He pointed out that while transformers, a type of AI model, are good at making predictions, they struggle with long-term planning, decision-making, and self-driven goals. He believes using a brain-inspired framework could create an AI system that is easier for humans to understand and control. 

Interestingly, McCaleb described his time in cryptocurrency as “a big detour” from his deeper interest in AI. He explained that he had always wanted to work in artificial intelligence but only found the opportunity after stepping back from the cryptocurrency industry. He expressed strong belief in his ambitions, declaring that “AI is going to be the most transformative thing that humans ever create.” Although he remains a pivotal figure in Ripple’s history, McCaleb left the company and sold all his XRP by 2022. 

McCaleb initially entered the crypto industry as a programmer with previous experience running the now-defunct Mt. Gox, one of the earliest major Bitcoin exchanges. In 2011, he began developing the Ripple protocol and later recruited key figures like former Ripple CTO David Schwartz.

In 2022, McCaleb co-founded OpenCoin, which later became Ripple Labs, now Ripple. He founded the company alongside Chris Larsen and served as CTO while contributing to the development of the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Following XRPL’s launch, McCaleb and other early co-founders each received personal stakes worth approximately 9 billion XRP, around 9% of the total supply. This allocation contributed significantly to his personal wealth today.