$25 Million XRP Donation Boosts San Francisco State University's Business Program

A San Francisco State University alumnus and his wife have made a significant donation to their alma mater, making it one of the largest cryptocurrency contributions in US higher education history. Chris Larsen, who graduated from SF State with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1984, and his wife Lyna Lam donated $25 million to the university's College of Business in April 2019, through the Rippleworks Foundation.

The donation was made in XRP, which is one of the largest digital asset donations to a US university at the time. The gift established funds for the college and supported new initiatives focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and financial technology.

The university renamed its College of Business the Lam Family College of Business in recognition of the couple's long-term support and generosity. Larsen and Lam had donated over $800,000 to scholarships, education, science, and business initiatives across the university before this significant gift.

The donation also launched five new business initiatives within the college, including the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, Emerging and Developing Economies Initiative, Financial Technology Initiative, Business and Education Technology Initiative, and Centre for Workforce of the Future.