HOPR was founded by Sebastian Bürgel, a graduate of ETH Zurich with a degree in information technologies and electrical engineering. Bürgel co-founded SONECT, an ATM as-a-service provider company, and served as the chief technology officer for SONECT until 2017. He also served as CTO at Validity Labs, providing education-related solutions via blockchain technology. In 2020, Bürgel left Validity Labs to start HOPR. The HOPR token launched in February 2021, and all proceeds from the launch are controlled by the HOPR DAO. The development of the HOPR protocol is overseen by the HOPR Association, a privately funded organization separate from the HOPR DAO.