Jed Mccaleb: Stellar and the Vision of an Open Financial System

When Jed McCaleb discovered Bitcoin, there didn’t even exist an online marketplace to trade the cryptocurrency yet. The experienced founder who had earlier started file sharing site eDonkey, acted fast and started the first Bitcoin exchange MtGox which he later sold to now-infamous Mark Karpeles. Jed later founded the pioneering Ripple project before leaving to start Stellar.

We discussed his journey through the industry and the ambitious plans Stellar has to create an open financial system that will give access to financial services to a much broader spectrum of humanity.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Jed’s early involvement in the industry and founding of MtGox and subsequently Ripple
• Why Jed left Ripple and started Stellar
• How Ripple and Stellar differ
• The Stellar Consensus Protocol
• Why the organization behind Stellar is a non-profit foundation
• Stellar’s focus on developing markets and Nigeria in particular
• The role and distribution of Stellar’s currency Lumen

Episode links:

• Stellar Website
• Stellar Consensus Protocol
• Bitcoin-Lumen Giveaway
• Stellar Graphic Novel
• Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/128