How a cryptocurrency fortune crippled a deceased billionaire’s estate
Despite the billionaire tagline, Mellon’s estate struggled to pay off his taxes and satisfy Mellon’s debts. The struggle was due to the fact that a large portion of Mellon’s assets—more than $193 million—were tied up in a cryptocurrency known as XRP. Mellon had never shared his keys with anyone, and because of that, most assumed that the XRP was lost forever.
Although a large percentage of Mellon’s estate was tied up into one asset—XRP—the case was still complicated. Mellon’s estate had a hard time confronting the problems of the estate based on the slew of tax bills and a secretive agreement Mellon made while he was alive. Since Cryptocurrency has only become more common in recent years, Mellon’s XRP has had a crippling effect on his estate.
See Grace Ferguson, How a cryptocurrency fortune crippled a deceased billionaire’s estate, Daily Dot, December 23, 2021.