Brock Pierce
Brock Jeffrey Pierce is an American entrepreneur, futurist, philanthropist, economist, creator, and previous actor known primarily for his work in the cryptocurrency industry. He co-founded Tether, a blockchain-enabled platform that facilitates the digital use of traditional currencies in 2014. In 2020, he ran as an independent candidate in the United States presidential election. [1]
Career
Brock Pierce is a futurist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and impact investor with a track record of founding, advising, and investing in disruptive businesses. He is credited with pioneering the market for digital currency and has raised more than $5B for companies he has founded, opening opportunities for millions of people. [9] In 2020, Brock Pierce received the first U.S. presidential vote cast on blockchain when he ran as an independent candidate. [14]
Pierce is the Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation and co-founder of EOS Alliance[2], Block.one[3], Blockchain Capital[4], Tether, and Mastercoin[5] (first ICO). Pierce is an early investor in Bitcoin and one of the largest investors in the Ethereum crowdsale. He is the founder of IMI Exchange[6], the world’s leading digital currency marketplace for games, with annual sales exceeding $1B and investors such as Goldman Sachs, which was sold in 2016 for more than $100M. [9]
Pierce founded ZAM[7], one of the world’s largest media properties for gamers, which was acquired by Tencent[8] in 2012. He founded IGE[10], the pioneer of digital currency in online games, achieving revenues exceeding $100 million in 2006 and sold in 2007. Pierce is also a co-founder of D10e[11], GoCoin[12], Blade Payments[13], Five Delta (sold NASDAQ: SRAX), Xfire 2.0, Playsino, Evertune, GamesTV, and DEN. [9]
Pierce is a sought-after speaker who has spoken about the power of blockchain technology and decentralization at global events and institutions. Brock Pierce has been a lecturer at Singularity University and has spoken at Milken Global Conference, Mobile World Congress, Wired, INK, Stanford University, USC, and UCLA. He has also been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, Wired, and Rolling Stone. [9]
Actor
Brock Pierce was born in Minnesota and appeared in commercials as a toddler. His first major role was playing a young Gordon Bombay in The Mighty Ducks (1992)[15]. He starred as Luke Davenport in First Kid (1996)[16]. Pierce had small roles in Little Big League (1994)[17], Ripper Man (1995)[18], Three Wishes (1995)[19], Earth Minus Zero (1996)[20], and The Ride (1997)[21]. [22]
Digital Entertainment Network (DEN)
Brock Pierce retired from acting at the age of 16 and joined as a minor partner with Marc Collins-Rector[24] and Chad Shackley[25] in setting up a Digital Entertainment Network (DEN), which succeeded in raising $88 million in venture capital. DEN intended to supply unique episodic video content over the internet geared toward the area of interest to audiences. DEN was one of the dot-com startups that focused on the creation and delivery of original video content online in the late 1990s prior to the wide adoption of broadband internet access. Pierce produced its first show, a pilot for homosexual teenagers called Chad's World[23]. As an 18-year-old, Pierce was making $250,000 a year and held 1% of the company's shares. [1]
DEN became slated for a $75 million IPO in October 1999, however, the IPO was withdrawn in the wake of allegations of sexual assault against Collins-Rector[24]. All three executives subsequently resigned. Layoffs followed in February 2000. While a new executive team led by former Capitol Records President Gary Gersh and former Microsoft executive Greg Carpenter attempted to relaunch in May 2000, DEN filed for bankruptcy and shut down in June 2000. [1]
Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency
In 2013, Brock Pierce joined brothers Bart[27] and Bradford Stephens[26] in founding venture capital firm Blockchain Capital (BCC)[4] which was reported to have raised $85 million in two venture funds by October 2017. Blockchain Capital[4] raised a 3rd fund using digital security offering on the blockchain, one of the first traded security tokens. [29]
Pierce worked with Mastercoin[5], a startup that raised capital via an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2013. According to Bloomberg, this “kicked off a worldwide ICO craze, with hundreds of startups raising billions of dollars”. [28]
In March 2014, Brock Pierce and a group of investors filed an offer to buy the assets of Mt Gox[31] using a Cypriot entity called Sunlot Holdings Ltd. The month before, Mt Gox had shut down operations and filed for bankruptcy in Tokyo after announcing that it had lost 850,000 Bitcoin. [30][32]
In May 2014, Brock Pierce was elected Director of the Bitcoin Foundation[44]. Several members of the Bitcoin Foundation resigned over concerns about the directors and the organization announced its insolvency in July 2015. [33][34]
In a February 2018 issue of Forbes magazine Pierce was named in the "top 20 wealthiest people in crypto" with an estimated net worth between $700 million and $1.1 billion. [35]
Tether
Brock Pierce co-founded the cryptocurrency Tether with Reeve Collins and Craig Sellars in 2014. Tether surpassed Bitcoin in trading volume with the highest daily and monthly trading volume of any cryptocurrency on the market in 2019. Tether is a blockchain-based stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar and backed 100% by actual assets in the Tether platform’s reserve account. In 2020, a court permitted the Attorney General of New York to pursue a claim that Bitfinex, an affiliated exchange, did not disclose the loss of over $800 million in commingled funds. [36]
In an interview in July 2020, Pierce said his involvement in Tether ended in 2015 but described Tether as "one of the most important innovations in currency." [37]
"I was one of the principal founders of Tether, but I was never a director, nor officer of the business. I was passively involved. In 2015, I transferred 100 percent of my ownership to our minority partners in exchange for zero consideration. I have never made one cent from Tether." - Brock said.
Block.one
Pierce co-founded Block.one[3] in 2017, a company that released the EOS.IO software[2]. The ICO raised more than $4 billion, the largest in history. By March 2018, Pierce's role at Block.one[3] had changed to Chief Strategy Officer and he resigned from the company that month to pursue community building. [38]
Education
Brock Pierce studied Film at the University of Southern California but dropped out in the first year and did not graduate. [9]
Philanthropy
Brock Pierce is the vice chair and spokesperson of the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots Foundation of New York, Long Island, and Puerto Rico. In late 2021, Pierce funded a new NYPD Gaming Trucks initiative in New York City. [39][40]
Personal Life
Brock Pierce was born on November 14, 1980, and is married to Crystal Rose, CEO of Sensay and co-chairman of the United Council of Rising Nations. [41]
Controversy
In 2000, 3 former DEN employees filed a lawsuit against Marc Collins-Rector[24] and Pierce alleging that they provided the plaintiffs with drugs and pressured them for sex when Pierce and one of the plaintiffs were still teenagers. [42]
Brock Pierce fled the United States and was arrested by Interpol in 2002 in Marbella, Spain. Pierce was released without being charged. Rector[24] eventually pleaded guilty and left the United States. [42]
The 3 plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed all charges against Pierce without receiving any compensation. Court records show that Pierce paid $21,600 to one of the plaintiff's attorneys because said attorney refused to file the order of dismissal requested by his client until the attorney's expenses were reimbursed. [43]
