Here's a question: What do Mt. Gox, Ripple, and Stellar have in common?
Answer: One guy. Jed McCaleb.
And if that name makes you do a double-take, you're not alone. Because McCaleb's story is one of the wildest in all of crypto—a journey from running the exchange that lost 850,000 Bitcoin, to co-founding Ripple, to leaving in dramatic fashion and building Stellar, which now moves billions of dollars around the world every single day.
This isn't just a story about technology. It's about redemption, resilience, and a stubborn belief that money should work for everyone—not just the people who already have it.
Let me take you on this ride.
The Guy Who Started It All (By Accident)
Jed McCaleb was born in 1975 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He went to UC Berkeley, got interested in computers and cryptography, and then... dropped out.
Why? Because he wanted to build things, not sit in classrooms.
In 2000, he created eDonkey2000, one of the first major peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Think Napster, but for everything—movies, music, software. At its peak, eDonkey was responsible for almost 25% of all internet traffic. Yeah, you read that right. One in four people online were using something McCaleb built.
Then in 2007, he did something random: he bought the domain Mtgox.com to build a trading site for Magic: The Gathering cards (hence the name—Magic: The Gathering Online eXchange).
But then Bitcoin came along in 2009, and McCaleb had another idea.
Mt. Gox: The Exchange That Changed Everything (Then Collapsed)
In 2010, McCaleb turned Mt. Gox into a Bitcoin exchange. It was one of the first places where you could actually buy and sell Bitcoin with real money.
And it exploded. Within months, Mt. Gox was handling 70% of all Bitcoin transactions in the world.
But here's the thing: McCaleb wasn't a finance guy. He was a coder who stumbled into running the world's biggest Bitcoin exchange. By early 2011, he realized he was in over his head and sold Mt. Gox to Mark Karpelès, a French developer living in Tokyo.
McCaleb walked away, kept a small stake, and moved on to his next project.
Then, in 2014, Mt. Gox collapsed. 850,000 Bitcoin—worth about $450 million at the time (over $50 billion today)—vanished. It was the biggest disaster in crypto history.
McCaleb's name got dragged through the mud, even though he'd left three years earlier. People accused him of incompetence, negligence, and worse. His reputation was destroyed.
Most people would've quit tech entirely. McCaleb? He was just getting started.
Ripple: The First Attempt at Fixing Money
In 2011, while Mt. Gox was still operational, McCaleb was already thinking about the next big thing: fixing how money moves around the world.
He started working on a new digital currency protocol that didn't rely on Bitcoin's energy-intensive mining. Instead, transactions would be verified by consensus among trusted network members. It was faster, cheaper, and way more efficient.
He called it Ripple.
McCaleb recruited Chris Larsen (who'd previously founded E-LOAN, a massive online lending company) to be CEO. Together, they launched OpenCoin, which later became Ripple Labs.
The vision was beautiful: Ripple would connect banks and financial institutions, allowing them to send money across borders instantly and cheaply. No more waiting days for international transfers. No more ridiculous fees. Just fast, transparent, secure payments.
And it worked. Ripple started signing up banks. The technology was solid. The team was strong. Everything looked perfect.
Except for one problem: McCaleb and Larsen fundamentally disagreed on the company's direction.
The Split: When Vision Collides With Reality
By 2013, the cracks were showing.
McCaleb believed Ripple should be open, decentralized, and accessible to everyone—especially people in developing countries who didn't have bank accounts.
Larsen and the Ripple team wanted to focus on partnering with big banks and financial institutions. They saw the future as working within the existing system, not replacing it.
The disagreements got heated. McCaleb felt Ripple was becoming too centralized, too controlled by a small group of people. That wasn't what he'd signed up for.
In 2013, McCaleb left Ripple.
But here's where it gets spicy: when he left, McCaleb still owned about 7.3% of all XRP (Ripple's cryptocurrency)—around 5.3 billion XRP at the time. Ripple was terrified that if McCaleb dumped all his XRP at once, it would crash the market.
So they made a deal: McCaleb could sell his XRP, but only gradually, under strict limits. For years, people in the crypto world watched his wallet like hawks, tracking every sale.
But McCaleb wasn't interested in drama. He was already building something new.
Stellar: The Vision, Take Two
On July 31, 2014, McCaleb announced Stellar.
The tagline? "Money for everyone, everywhere."
This time, McCaleb wasn't messing around. Stellar would be everything he wanted Ripple to be:
- Open and decentralized: Anyone could participate
- Focused on financial inclusion: Helping the billions of unbanked people worldwide
- Non-profit: The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) would manage the network, with no VC pressure to maximize profits
He brought in Joyce Kim, an entrepreneur and lawyer who shared his vision, as co-founder. Together, they raised $3 million from Stripe (yes, the payment processing giant) to get started.
The mission was clear: use blockchain to connect people who'd been left behind by the traditional financial system.
But launching Stellar was rocky as hell.
The Rocky Start Nobody Talks About
When Stellar launched, a lot of people dismissed it as a "Ripple rip-off" built out of spite. The media coverage was brutal. Crypto Twitter roasted McCaleb. Even some of his former colleagues at Ripple took shots.
To make matters worse, in 2014, there was a serious bug in the Stellar network that caused forks and downtime. For a while, it looked like Stellar might not survive.
McCaleb later admitted: "People forgot Stellar existed."
For months, maybe even a year or two, Stellar was in the wilderness. The crypto world had moved on. Everyone was chasing the next hot ICO. Stellar was boring, serious, focused on real-world problems—not exactly what gets hype.
But McCaleb and the team kept building.
They rewrote the entire protocol from scratch, creating the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP)—a new consensus mechanism that was faster, more energy-efficient, and more secure than what they'd started with.
And slowly, things started to click.
The IBM Partnership That Changed Everything
In 2017, Stellar landed the partnership that put them on the map: IBM.
Yes, IBM—one of the largest tech companies in the world—decided to use Stellar's blockchain to power cross-border payments.
They called it IBM World Wire, and the idea was simple: banks and financial institutions could use Stellar to settle payments in real-time, using digital versions of local currencies.
By 2018, IBM World Wire was processing payments in over 50 countries. Stellar wasn't just a theory anymore—it was moving real money for real banks.
This was huge. Suddenly, Stellar had credibility. If IBM trusted Stellar, maybe everyone else should too.
And that's when the real growth started.
MoneyGram: Bringing Crypto to the Real World
In October 2021, Stellar announced a partnership that would define its next phase: MoneyGram.
MoneyGram is one of the largest money transfer companies in the world, with over 30,000 physical locations globally. If you've ever sent money to family in another country, you've probably used MoneyGram.
The partnership was genius: MoneyGram would integrate Stellar's blockchain to enable users to send USDC (Circle's stablecoin) as remittances and cash them out in local currency at any MoneyGram location.
For the first time, people without bank accounts could seamlessly move between cash and crypto:
- Go to a MoneyGram location
- Deposit cash
- Get USDC in your Stellar wallet
- Send it anywhere in the world
- Recipient cashes it out at another MoneyGram location
Settlement happened in near-real-time using USDC. No more waiting days for international transfers. No more ridiculous fees. And most importantly, no bank account required.
This was McCaleb's vision coming to life.
MoneyGram's CEO Alex Holmes explained the difference between Stellar and their previous partnership with Ripple:
With Ripple, they were trying to create a new FX market using XRP, which was volatile and limited. With Stellar and USDC, they were directly touching consumer payments with stable, predictable value.
By 2024, MoneyGram had processed millions of transactions on Stellar. And the numbers kept growing.
The Real-World Impact: Refugees, Aid, and Financial Inclusion
Here's where Stellar's story gets truly powerful.
In 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, millions of people were displaced. They fled to neighboring countries with nothing—no documents, no bank accounts, no way to receive money from loved ones.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) partnered with Stellar to deliver USDC-based aid directly to displaced people.
Recipients received funds via Stellar wallets and cashed them out at MoneyGram locations. They didn't need smartphones. They didn't need bank accounts. They just needed to show ID at a MoneyGram kiosk.
By 2024, over $10 million in aid was distributed to 5,000+ recipients. Every transaction was traceable on the blockchain, preventing fraud and corruption.
Similar programs launched in Venezuela, Colombia, and other crisis zones.
This wasn't some Silicon Valley fantasy about "banking the unbanked." This was real people in desperate situations getting real money, fast, securely, and transparently.
The Numbers: Stellar's Quiet Dominance
While everyone was obsessing over Ethereum gas fees and Solana's speed, Stellar was quietly building a financial empire:
By 2024-2025:
- Market cap: Over $15 billion
- IBM World Wire: Operating in 50+ countries
- MoneyGram: 475,000+ locations integrated with Stellar for cash-to-crypto services
- USDC on Stellar: Growing 78% year-over-year
- Transactions: Billions processed annually
- Partnerships: IBM, MoneyGram, Circle, United Nations, CEX.io, and dozens of others
Speed and Cost:
- Transaction time: 3-5 seconds
- Transaction cost: Fractions of a penny (literally $0.00001 per transaction)
- Throughput: Thousands of transactions per second
Compare that to Bitcoin (10 minutes, $5-50 fees) or Ethereum (15 seconds to 2 minutes, $1-100 fees), and you start to see why institutions love Stellar.
The Technology That Makes It Work
Okay, quick tech breakdown without getting too nerdy:
Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP)
Unlike Bitcoin's proof-of-work (energy-intensive mining) or Ethereum's proof-of-stake, Stellar uses something called Federated Byzantine Agreement (FBA).
Basically, instead of every node validating every transaction, small groups of trusted nodes reach consensus quickly. It's fast, energy-efficient, and secure.
Anchors
Stellar has "anchors"—regulated entities that issue assets on the network. For example, Circle issues USDC on Stellar. Banks can issue digital versions of local currencies.
This means you can hold dollars, euros, pesos, or any currency on Stellar, and trade them instantly.
Decentralized Exchange (DEX)
Stellar has a built-in DEX where you can trade any asset for any other asset. Want to swap USDC for euros? Done in 5 seconds. Want to convert Bitcoin to pesos? Easy.
No middlemen. No centralized exchange taking custody of your funds.
The Competition: Ripple vs. Stellar
Let's address the elephant in the room: Stellar and Ripple are direct competitors.
Both focus on cross-border payments. Both use similar technology. Both were co-founded by Jed McCaleb.
But they're fundamentally different:
Ripple:
- Targets banks and financial institutions
- Centralized (Ripple Labs controls a lot)
- For-profit company
- Focused on enterprise solutions
Stellar:
- Targets individuals and underserved populations
- Decentralized and open-source
- Non-profit foundation
- Focused on financial inclusion
McCaleb has been outspoken about this. He believes public blockchains are the future, not private ones controlled by corporations.
The crypto world loves drama, so people constantly compare the two. But honestly? They're solving different problems for different audiences.
The Challenges: It's Not All Perfect
Stellar faces real challenges:
1. Awareness
Most people have never heard of Stellar. While Ethereum and Bitcoin dominate headlines, Stellar quietly does its thing. That's both a strength (less hype, more substance) and a weakness (harder to attract developers and users).
2. Competition
Ethereum Layer 2s, Solana, and other blockchains are fast and cheap now too. Stellar's technical advantages are shrinking.
3. Adoption
Despite the partnerships, getting billions of people to actually use Stellar is hard. Changing financial habits takes time.
4. Regulatory Uncertainty
Crypto regulations are still a mess globally. Stellar has to navigate different rules in different countries, which slows expansion.
5. The "Boring" Problem
Stellar doesn't have flashy NFTs, viral meme coins, or billion-dollar DeFi protocols. It's infrastructure. And infrastructure is boring. But boring often wins in the long run.
McCaleb Today: Building Spaceships (Literally)
Here's a fun twist: In 2021, McCaleb founded Vast, an aerospace company dedicated to building artificial gravity space stations.
Yes, the guy who built crypto's most inclusive financial network is now trying to enable long-term human habitation in space.
Why? Because McCaleb is obsessed with solving big problems. Financial inclusion? Check. Now onto space colonization.
He's also the sole funder and chairman of Vast, pouring his crypto billions into making science fiction real.
As of 2025, McCaleb is worth about $2.9 billion, making him one of the wealthiest people in crypto.
But he doesn't live a flashy lifestyle. He's known for being intensely private, preferring to stay focused on building rather than seeking attention.
The Vision for 2025 and Beyond
Stellar's roadmap is ambitious but achievable:
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)
Stellar is working with governments in Ukraine, Brazil, and Caribbean nations to explore digital versions of their currencies. Stellar's speed and low cost make it perfect for national payment systems.
Expanding MoneyGram Integration
The goal is to have Stellar-USDC cash-in/cash-out services available at all 475,000+ MoneyGram locations worldwide.
Cross-Chain Interoperability
In late 2024, Circle launched Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol V2 (CCTP V2) on Stellar, allowing seamless USDC transfers between Stellar, Ethereum, and Solana.
This is huge. It means Stellar becomes the bridge between crypto's biggest ecosystems.
More Humanitarian Use Cases
Expanding partnerships with UN agencies, NGOs, and governments to use Stellar for disaster relief, refugee aid, and development programs.
Developer Ecosystem
Growing the number of apps, wallets, and services built on Stellar to rival Ethereum's ecosystem.
What This All Means
Stellar's story is a masterclass in resilience and long-term thinking.
McCaleb got burned by Mt. Gox. He left Ripple under controversial circumstances. Stellar's launch was rocky and widely dismissed.
But he kept building. He stayed focused on the mission: making money work for everyone, especially the people who need it most.
Today, Stellar is:
- Moving billions of dollars annually
- Partnered with IBM, MoneyGram, Circle, and the United Nations
- Delivering aid to refugees
- Enabling remittances for millions
- Building the infrastructure for CBDCs
- Valued at over $15 billion
And the best part? Most people still don't know about it.
Stellar isn't trying to be the next hot thing. It's trying to be the infrastructure layer for the global financial system—the rails that billions of people will use without even knowing it's there.
Like the internet itself, the best infrastructure disappears into the background.
The Bottom Line
From Mt. Gox to Ripple to Stellar, Jed McCaleb's journey is one of the most fascinating in all of crypto.
He's not perfect. He's made mistakes. His companies have faced criticism and setbacks.
But he's also built technology that's genuinely helping people—refugees getting aid, families sending remittances, unbanked populations accessing financial services.
In an industry full of scams, hype, and vaporware, Stellar is the real deal. It's boring, it's functional, and it's actually doing what blockchain promised to do a decade ago: make money work better for everyone.
Whether Stellar becomes the dominant global payment network or just one of many players, McCaleb's vision has already succeeded.
Because at the end of the day, it's not about market cap or hype.
It's about a programmer from Arkansas who believed money should reach the stars—and built the technology to make it happen.
Have you used Stellar? What do you think about McCaleb's journey from Mt. Gox to financial inclusion? Drop your thoughts in the comments!
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