Matthew Mellon, Billionaire Banking Heir & Cryptocurrency Investor, Dies At 54

Billionaire banking heir and cryptocurrency investor Matthew Mellon has died in a rehab facility in Mexico, he was 54.

His death was confirmed by his cousin Peter Stephaich but declined to share any details, according to Bloomberg. Mellon suffered with an addiction to the opioid-based painkillers Oxycontin.

Mellon was the heir to two large banking dynasties. On his father’s side, he was the descendant of the founder of Mellon Bank, which is now a part of BNY Mellon. On his mother’s side, Mellon was related to Anthony Joseph Drexel, who was the co-founder of the former Wall Street investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert.

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However in more recent years, Mellon made most of his fortune through cryptocurrency. He was an early investor in XRP, which was the cryptocurrency that was linked to the startup Ripple. In February, Forbes reported that Mellon’s investment in the cryptocurrency was worth $1 billion. Find more information on crypto trading here https://tradewise.community/

A representative for Mellon told the New York Post that, “Mellon made his fortune in cryptocurrency, turning a $2 million investment into $1 billion.”

Mellon also served as the chairman of the finance committee of the Republican Party in New York.

He worked in a variety of industries, like telecommunications, fashion and finance after attending he Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mellon is survived by his first wife, fashion designer Tamara Mellon, as well as his second wife, fashion designer Nicole Hanley, they separated in 2015.

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Mellon, the co-founder of Jimmy Choo shoes, told a London jury in 2007 that she and her husband had met at a meeting of Narcotics Anonymous when both were recovering from addiction.

He has been open about his fight with addiction. In 2016, Mellon told the Post, “Oxycontin is like legal heroin. And it needs to be addressed,” while at a rehab treatment center in Malibu, Calif.

Matthew Mellon’s net worth at the time of his death was reported to be well in excess of $1 billion.