Chris Larsen, the co-founder of Ripple, has invested in a derivatives exchange startup founded by the 22-year-old son of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, one of the key architects of pending crypto market structure legislation in Congress.
American Perpetuals Exchange Corp., or APEC, raised $30 million in a funding round led by Lux Capital, giving the company a $300 million valuation as of June 18. Larsen is among roughly three dozen angel investors who contributed between $5,000 and $10,000 each to the venture founded by Theodore Gillibrand.
The ethics question no one can ignore
Senator Gillibrand isn’t just any senator with a kid in finance. She’s one of the most influential voices shaping how crypto and derivatives get regulated in the US, having previously co-sponsored bipartisan crypto legislation. And right now, she’s actively engaged in negotiations over ethics provisions in a crypto market structure bill working its way through Congress.
The senator has stated she has “no involvement” in her son’s business. But when a Ripple co-founder is writing checks to your son’s company while you’re helping decide how Ripple’s industry gets regulated, the optics aren’t exactly pristine.
