Ari Meilich co-founded Decentraland, a virtual world built on the Ethereum blockchain, and later co-founded Big Time Studios, a Web3 gaming company behind the Open Loot platform. He led Decentraland as CEO and project lead from 2017 to 2020 before stepping into an advisory role. Meilich holds a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from Hunter College and worked in scientific research before moving into crypto.

Who Is Ari Meilich?

Ari Meilich is an Argentinian developer whose path into crypto started outside the tech industry entirely. He first enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires, then transferred to Hunter College, part of the City University of New York, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience between 2010 and 2013.

His early career was spent in scientific research. In August 2010, Meilich worked as a research assistant for the Mood and Anxiety Program at Mount Sinai Hospital. The following summer, he conducted neuroscience research at Brown University, then moved to New York University in August 2011 to study neuroscience and neuroeconomics. That work contributed to a 2012 Nature Neuroscience review paper called “The Neuroscience of Race.”

Meilich’s transition toward business came in February 2015, when he took a job as a market research analyst at the venture capital firm CRV. In January 2016, he co-founded Benchrise, an IT services and consulting company based in Argentina.

Ari Meilich’s Career and Contributions

Decentraland ran an initial coin offering in August 2017, raising $24 million to fund a decentralized virtual world running on Ethereum. The platform lets users buy, sell, and build on virtual land and create games and applications inside it. Meilich served as CEO and project lead through the platform’s closed beta in 2019 and its public launch in February 2020.

In April 2020, Meilich stepped back from day-to-day leadership at Decentraland and moved into a part-time advisory role, a position he still holds. That same month, he co-founded Big Time Studios with game designer Thor Alexander, where he now serves as CEO. Big Time Studios builds tools that let traditional video game studios add cryptocurrency and NFT technology to their titles, and it runs the Open Loot platform for trading in-game assets.

Across both companies, Meilich’s work centers on the early infrastructure of virtual worlds and Web3 gaming. Decentraland built a land-based digital economy. Big Time Studios takes a different approach, bringing blockchain tools into games built by studios that didn’t start out crypto-native.

Meilich built his career around starting companies rather than trading tokens or writing protocol code. If you want to learn about more names shaping the crypto industry, check out our crypto personalities page. 

Ari Meilich’s Views and Positions

Meilich talked about blockchain and gaming on December 16, 2021, on The Money Movement, a podcast hosted by Circle co-founder Jeremy Allaire. He appeared with Big Time Studios co-founder Thor Alexander.

The episode covered how blockchain can help build big-budget games, the barriers stopping more people from playing them, and how gamer habits are changing as tokenization spreads. They also talked about getting blockchain games to work together, developer tools, and where NFTs are headed as they mix with mainstream gaming.

Meilich also appeared in an episode of The Wolf Of All Streets podcast on March 23, 2022, where he discussed the metaverse and a new multiplayer adventure game he was building at the time. The episode asked whether play-to-earn gaming was becoming a major trend, especially since Axie Infinity had reshaped how players owned in-game economies.

Meilich talked through how far the metaverse had come, where play-to-earn was headed, and the biggest challenges he had run into building a blockchain-integrated game.

Ari Meilich’s Net Worth

Ari Meilich has not personally disclosed his net worth, and no public filing confirms his personal holdings. A blog post from Investing.com, however, puts his estimated net worth at $200 million, tied to his early equity in Decentraland, which raised $24 million in its 2017 token sale. That figure centers on his Decentraland equity and doesn’t factor in his stake in Big Time Studios, which is privately held. A fuller picture would need public confirmation of his holdings across both projects.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here’s what people most often search for when they look up Ari Meilich, from his background to how he built his reputation in crypto.

What did Ari Meilich study before working in crypto?

Meilich earned a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from Hunter College between 2010 and 2013. Before entering the crypto industry, he worked in neuroscience research at Mount Sinai Hospital, Brown University, and New York University. 

What is Ari Meilich’s role at Decentraland today?

Meilich stepped down as CEO of Decentraland in April 2020 and has served in a part-time advisory role since then. Esteban Ordano, his original co-founder, has also moved on from day-to-day operations at the project. 

Who founded Decentraland with Ari Meilich?

Meilich co-founded Decentraland in May 2017 with Esteban Ordano, a fellow Argentinian developer. The two led the project together until Meilich moved into an advisory role in April 2020.

What is Ari Meilich’s net worth?

Ari Meilich has not personally disclosed his net worth. Investing.com lists an estimated net worth of $200 million for Meilich, tied to his early equity in Decentraland.

Did Ari Meilich work in neuroscience before getting into crypto?

Yes. Between 2010 and 2015, Meilich worked in neuroscience research roles at Mount Sinai Hospital, Brown University, and New York University, including contributing to a 2012 Nature Neuroscience review paper on race and neuroscience.