Oleg Tinkov built Tinkoff Bank from $70 million into Russia's largest digital bank, briefly worth $10 billion on paper. After criticizing Putin and the war, the Kremlin delisted the bank and wiped out his wealth. He's now fighting leukemia while still speaking against the regime.
The Russian Richard Branson. His name is Oleg Tinkoff. So he starts this bank with $70 million of his own money and it gets huge. Goldman invests into it and it was the second largest issuer of credit cards in Russia. It was the largest digital bank in the world. It goes public and his stake in it is worth $10 billion. And here's where the story gets kind of crazy. Russia does not like Oleg. He talks a ton of shit. He's very anti the war. He just says, Putin, you're full of shit. All these oligarchs in Russia, you're all full of shit. And eventually they delist Tinkoff Bank, so it's no longer public and he loses most all of his money. Now he has leukemia and he's dying. Still talking mad shit. He says like, they wanted to punish me for this. And to that I say, fuck off. I want to die with good karma and for people to remember me for being strong and fair. He's paid the price for being outspoken and he's still being outspoken.
