Damian Merlak’s Net Worth: How Rich Is Bitstamp’s Co-Founder?

 Serial entrepreneur Damian Merlak’s net worth is estimated at €212 million (roughly $227 million at the time of writing). Damian, an entrepreneur, business mogul, developer, and financial investor, currently co-founded five companies. The most recent is Alpinia, which was established in 2019.

Who is Damian Merlak?

Damian Merlak, Co-founder Bitstamp. Image source: SiOL

Merlak was born on April 27, 1986, in Celje, a small town in the eastern part of  Slovenia. He is known as a businessman, financial investor, developer, and entrepreneur. Merlak attended the University of Ljubljana, where he earned a major in computer software engineering. 

Damian Merlak first got into software development at the age of 13. In college, he started working professionally as a software developer for companies like Klikka and Pop TV. He is a financially-minded techie, having learned computer programming in primary school and dabbled in stock investing as early as high school.

Damian was first introduced to Bitcoin when he was 25 years old, in 2011, when it was trading at just $2 per coin, but he wasn’t hugely interested in the world’s first crypto initially. After two months, Bitcoin’s price shot up to about 15 dollars, which piqued his interest. Once Bitcoin’s price fell, he started buying the dip.

Damian has been trading traditional stocks shares for more than 10 years, which eventually brought him to the world of cryptocurrencies. His reasoning for buying shares is that it is much easier to limit the risk with them, and they also allow earnings in the form of a premium on possible sales in short periods of time.

What is Damian Merlak’s net worth in 2023?

Damian Merlak’s net worth is estimated at 212 million euros, according to a Slovenian business magazine Finance Manager He accumulated his wealth by making calculated investments by buying a lot of shares in different conglomerates and engaging in cryptocurrency-related businesses and investments.

Merlak began his path to financial success in 2011 when he and his friend Nejc Kodrič,  founded the Bitstamp exchange. After successfully launching Bitstamp in 2014, as a financial investor, he entered the ownership of the company KŽK Kmetijstvo by purchasing one-third of the business share. 

Damian Merlak considers himself to be a serial entrepreneur. In order to pursue all of his business ambitions, he resigned from the executive position at Bitstamp, but he remains a 32% owner and member of the Supervisory Board

In 2017, he and his partners began to develop the idea of ​​an exchange that would allow complete transparency over its traffic with the help of blockchain technology, so Tokens.net was founded. With the Tokens.net project, which is a crypto-to-crypto exchange, he raised $15 million through an ICO.

In 2018, together with his business partner Roman Bernardo, he founded the company Ngen, which operates in the field of obtaining and storing green energy. In 2019, he bought four dilapidated hotels in Bohinj for 8 million euros and, together with Juret Repanšek, founded the new company Alpinia, whose task is to restore and manage the purchased hotels.

In light of this, let’s examine Merlak’s’ most significant business ventures.

Bistamp

Bitstamp was founded in 2011, and today it is one of the most reputable crypto exchanges in the world. Damian initially wanted to create a mining pool, but the idea was killed because it was better to create an exchange that would offer a better user experience. Bitstamp was launched in August 2011. Under Merlak, Bitstamp grew into a leading crypto exchange and pioneered new security standards. In 2015, it suffered a major hack but covered the losses. After running Bitstamp for years, Merlak sold his 30% stake for $100 million when the exchange was acquired in 2018.

KŽK Kmetijstvo

In 2014, Merlak became a financial investor in the company KŽK Kmetijstvo. He bought one-third of the business.  After the fraud by the owners, he took full control, fixed the problems, and sold the rehabilitated company for a profit in 2019.

Tokens.net

In 2017, Merlak and partners started developing the idea for the Tokens.net exchange. It would use blockchain to provide full transparency on trading activity. In November 2017, they held a public fundraising and sold tokens called Dynamic Trading Rights (DTR) to investors. They reached their $15 million goal in under a month. Trading began on Tokens.net in April 2018. Registration opened to the public in July.

In 2020, a lawsuit was filed against the company by a founding member, seeking $1 million in damages. It was settled privately. In February 2021, Merlak announced that Tokens.net would close in April.

Ngen

In 2018, Damian Merlak and his business partner, Roman Bernardo, founded Ngen, a company focused on green energy. They installed the biggest Tesla electricity storage system in Europe in January 2020, worth 15 million euros. Ngen is also working on even larger batteries.

Alpinia

In 2019, Damian Merlak bought four old hotels in a beautiful place called Bohinj for 8 million euros. Together with Juret Repanšek, he founded a new company called Alpinia. Their mission was to restore and manage these hotels. They opened the Triglav apartments just four months after buying the hotels. Next up was Hotel Bohinj, which they completely renovated and reopened in July 2021. And now, they’re busy renovating another place called Hotel Zlatorog.

The bottom line: Damian is one of the youngest millionaires in Slovenia

Damian Merlak, the co-founder of Bitstamp, has made an indelible mark in the cryptocurrency world. His journey—from a curious observer to a key player—showcases the evolution of the industry. By prioritizing fiat-to-crypto exchanges and comprehensive services, Bitstamp stands tall as a significant force in the crypto market.

If you want to learn about the net worths of other prominent individuals in crypto, feel free to check out articles about Tesla’s founder Elon Musk, and Bitcoin’s inventor Satoshi Nakamoto.