Jed had a long string of bad ideas that Ripple’s Board of Directors refused to implement. So Jed started Stellar based on those ideas.

Jed wanted Ripple to do a Facebook giveaway. Ripple would not do that. So that was one of the first things Stellar did. The giveaway was generally considered a disaster. As it became clear that each of his rejected ideas were bad, Stellar pivoted to become a clone of Ripple.

Jed tried to dump his XRP quickly and Ripple acted to stop him through a series of lawsuits. Thanks to Ripple’s refusal, Jed’s XRP will probably be worth more than $1 billion. He will probably be the only person to become a self-made billionaire despite his best efforts.

When companies solicit investors, those investors get stock with voting rights. Some of them get seats on the Board of Directors. And you bring on smart people to help you make good decisions. Heck, Jed brought in Chris to be CEO. Jed’s reaction to not getting his way on these issues was to publicly say bad things about the company and start a competitor. IMO, unless you think the company is doing something illegal or severely immoral, betraying your investors and employees that way is unconscionable.

Note that this is not a comment on what Stellar is doing now or their likelihood of success. It is just about why Jed McCaleb started Stellar. I was there. But I cannot claim to be unbiased. This is just the parts about which I am relatively certain. There are things that I suspect that are even worse.