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Apr 1, 2026 upd. 9 Jun
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Ripple founder Jed McCaleb commits $1B XRP fortune to AGI research

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Jed McCaleb commits $1B to brain‑inspired AGI, adds $600M for neuroscience

Ripple and Stellar founder Jed McCaleb will fund brain‑modeled AGI via his Astera Institute with $1B, plus $600M for neuroscience work. He discussed the plan and funding source in a Forbes interview.

XRP

McCaleb told Forbes he will allocate about $1B from an estimated $3.9B in XRP wealth to AGI efforts through the California‑based non‑profit Astera Institute. He also pledged $600M specifically for neuroscience research to support the program’s foundation (Forbes).

Astera’s team plans to use brain‑computer interfaces to record neural activity in mice during natural tasks and use those biological data to design AI systems beyond today’s transformer models (Forbes).

McCaleb voiced skepticism about current mainstream AI. He said transformers are strong at prediction but weak at long‑horizon planning and self‑directed goals, arguing brain‑inspired systems could be more interpretable and controllable for humans (Forbes).

Key numbers and context:

  • $1B for core AGI work via Astera Institute (Forbes)
  • $600M earmarked for neuroscience research (Forbes)
  • Forbes estimates $3.9B in XRP-linked wealth; prior reporting said he sold all XRP by 2022 (Bitcoinist)
  • Earlier, McCaleb funded a $1B private space station project in 2025 (Bitcoinist)

Background for crypto investors:

  • McCaleb founded Ripple and later Stellar (XLM); he earlier ran the now‑defunct Mt. Gox, one of the first major Bitcoin exchanges (Bitcoinist)
  • He began the Ripple protocol in 2011 and recruited figures like former Ripple CTO David Schwartz (Bitcoinist)
  • He co‑founded OpenCoin, later Ripple Labs, with Chris Larsen; he served as CTO and helped develop the XRP Ledger (Bitcoinist) (Bitcoinist)
  • Early co‑founders received roughly 9 billion XRP each, around 9% of total supply, which drove his net worth (Bitcoinist)

“In crypto, that was a big detour,” McCaleb said, adding “AI is going to be the most transformative thing that humans ever create” (Forbes).