Brock Pierce

Pierce retired from acting at 17 and joined as a minor partner with Marc Collins-Rector and Chad Schackley in establishing Digital Entertainment Network (DEN), which succeeded in raising $88 million in venture capital.[3] DEN's goal was to deliver original episodic video content over the Internet aimed at niche audiences.[4] DEN was one of a crop of dot-com startups that focused on the creation and delivery of original video content online in the late 1990s[5] prior to wide adoption of broadband internet access. Pierce produced its first show, a pilot for gay teenagers called Chad's World.[6] As an 18-year-old, Pierce was making $250,000 a year and held 1% of the company's shares.[7]

DEN was slated for a US$75 million IPO in October 1999, but the IPO was withdrawn in the wake of allegations of sexual assault against Collins-Rector. 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 tried to salvage the company and relaunch in May 2000, DEN filed for bankruptcy and shut down in June 2000.[8][9]

In 2000, three former DEN employees filed a lawsuit against the founder of DEN, and also named Pierce as a defendant, alleging that they provided the plaintiffs with drugs and pressured them for sex when Pierce and one of the plaintiffs were still teenagers.[10][11][12][13] The three plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed all charges against Pierce without receiving any compensation.[14] Court records show that Pierce paid $21,600 to one of the plaintiff's attorney because said attorney refused to file the order of dismissal requested by his client until the attorney's expenses were reimbursed.[15] None of the accusations against Pierce has ever been corroborated, and the primary plaintiff has been convicted of fraud and has admitted to filing false lawsuits in other sexual abuse cases.[11][16][17][18] Allegations were repeated in documentary An Open Secret about Pierce and pedophile Marc Collins-Rector.[19]

In 2013, Pierce joined brothers Bart and Bradford Stephens in founding venture capital firm Blockchain Capital (BCC) which was reported to have raised $85 million in two venture funds by October 2017.[20] Blockchain Capital raised a third fund using a digital security offering on the blockchain, one of the first traded security tokens.[21][22]

Pierce worked with Mastercoin, 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”.[23]

In March 2014, Pierce and a group of investors filed an offer to purchase the assets of Mt Gox 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.[24][25]

Pierce was elected Director of the Bitcoin Foundation in May 2014.[13][26] Several members of the Bitcoin Foundation resigned over concerns about the directors.[27] The organization announced its insolvency in July 2015.[28]

In 2015, Pierce served as a technical consultant for an episode of Silicon Valley.

Pierce speaking at the SingularityU summit in 2016

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.[29]

Pierce was co-founder of the cryptocurrency Tether with Reeve Collins and Craig Sellars in 2014.[30] Tether surpassed Bitcoin in trading volume with the highest daily and monthly trading volume of any cryptocurrency on the market in 2019.[31] Tether is a so-called stablecoin because it maintains $1 dollar in reserves for each tether issued.[31] 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 commingled funds.[23] 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."[23]

Pierce was co-founder of Block.one, which released EOS.IO software.[23] The ICO raised more than $4 billion, the largest in history.[23] By March 2018, Pierce's role at Block.one had changed to chief strategy officer and he resigned from the company that month to pursue community building.[12]

In 2001, Pierce founded Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE), a company which pioneered the MMORPG currency-selling services industry.[32] Between 2004 and 2005, IGE spent more than $25 million buying out seven smaller competitors, including four auction platforms and a number of fan and content sites.[33] In 2005, Pierce estimated that IGE accounted for about 50% of this online market in the U.S., which has about $500 million in annual volume.[33][34]

Pierce brought in Steve Bannon, formerly of Goldman Sachs and Breitbart News, to seek venture capital and a deal was made in February 2006 yielding $60 million of which Pierce took away $20 million for a minority stake. The next year, facing a class-action lawsuit, the company failed, had no assets and Pierce was forced out.[35]

Pierce founded ZAM, a network of websites oriented around massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG), such as World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Rift, EverQuest, etc., in 2003.[36] The ZAM.com network included gaming websites such as ZAM.com, Wowhead, Thottbot, Torhead, and D3DB.

In 2010, Titan Gaming recruited Pierce to sit on its board along with EA Executive Keith McCurdy.[37] Pierce joined other Southern California angel investors, including MP3.com's Michael Robertson, SOA Software's Eric Pulier and William Quigley and Jim Armstrong of Clearstone Ventures.[38] Also that year, Titan Gaming purchased the rising online gaming network Xfire from Viacom.[39] In October 2011, after Xfire received over $4 million in fresh funding from Intel Capital, Titan Gaming and Xfire cut ties and went their own ways. Titan Gaming and Xfire now operate independently.[40] In late April 2012, Titan Gaming announced that it would be rebranded as Playsino to embark in a complete makeover, with Pierce as the new CEO and $1.5 million of new funding.

As of 2013, Pierce was managing director of the Clearstone Global Gaming Fund a board member of IMI Exchange (a remnant of the IGE restructuring), Xfire, Playsino (having been replaced as CEO in 2013), GoCoin, FGL, Spicy Horse Games, KnCMiner.cn and the Mastercoin Foundation. He was also a member investor of Bit Angels and an investor in BTC China.[41]

Pierce has been a guest speaker at the Milken Global Conference,[42] Singularity University,[43] and Caltech.[41]

On July 5, 2020, Pierce announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2020 election as an Independent. The campaign filed registration documents with the FEC on July 7.[48] Pierce based his campaign around his background as an entrepreneur,[1] and his running mate is Karla Ballard, a fellow entrepreneur.[49][50] Pierce gained ballot access in Oklahoma on July 15,[51] in Arkansas on August 12,[49] Colorado on August 19.[50] and was nominated by the New York Independence Party on August 24.[52] Pierce was endorsed by venture capitalist and Bitcoin advocate Tim Draper.[53] Pierce was also backed up by singer and entrepreneur Akon, who manages his presidential campaign as chief strategist.[54] On September 14, he announced that he would form a new party and run candidates in 2022.[55][56] Jesse Ventura, former Minnesota governor, mayor, actor, and professional wrestler, also endorsed Pierce.[57]

Pierce would like to create "America 2.0", with a government that embraces technology,[58] and he believes technology is the biggest issue for the United States' future.[59] Pierce has said that he would institute a universal basic income, [60] a solution which could be enabled by digital currencies.[61] He also supports a single-payer health-care system and the legalization of marijuana.[62] Stating that the war on drugs has failed, he advocates ending federal enforcement and to pardon and expunge all non-violent cannabis crimes.[63] Pierce has criticized the two-party system, and has stated that he intends to start a major third party.[64]

The Free & Equal Elections Foundation hosted the Second Open Presidential Debate on October 8, 2020 in Denver, Colorado, with participation limited to candidates on the ballot in at least eight states.[65] Participants in the debate included Pierce alongside Howie Hawkins of the Green Party, Brian Carroll of the American Solidarity Party, Don Blankenship of the Constitution Party; and Gloria La Riva of the Party for Socialism & Liberation.[66]

In Casper, Wyoming, Pierce announced the Independent National Convention, to be held in Cheyenne, Wyoming on October 23–24, 2020. Pierce said the convention would include minor, third party candidates to share their message.[67] Pierce invited independent candidate Kanye West to attend the convention along with five other confirmed independent candidates.[68] Pierce is the only independent candidate to appear on the Wyoming ballot.[69]

On October 13, 2020 Pierce became the first presidential candidate in U.S. history to receive a vote through an app on a personal mobile phone using blockchain technology, in Utah County using the Voatz app.[70]

He received the endorsement of the Independence Party of New York[71] and the Independent Party of Florida.[72]