Forbes put Jed McCaleb's net worth at $3.9 billion on its Billionaires List in May 2026. He is 51 years old and was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on June 8, 1975.
He started with software. In 2000 he founded MetaMachine and released eDonkey2000, a file-sharing application. He stayed on as chief technology officer and kept building the eDonkey and Overnet networks.
In 2007 he bought the Mtgox.com domain for a Magic: The Gathering card trading site. In late 2010 he turned it into a bitcoin exchange. He sold it to Mark Karpeles in February 2011 and stayed a minority owner until it collapsed in 2014.
He then co-founded Ripple, where he was chief technology officer until July 2013. In 2014 he co-founded the Stellar Development Foundation with Joyce Kim. In 2021 he founded the space company Vast. As of 2023 he was its CEO, chairman and sole funder.