Top 10 Crypto and/or Blockchain Billionaires and how they made their fortune
1. Changpeng Zhao
Net worth: $65 billion
Source of wealth: Binance
Citizenship: Canada
Binance founder and CEO “CZ,” the richest person in crypto, is the 19th richest person in the world
According to Forbes, he owns at least 70% of Binance, the leading global cryptocurrency trading platform
Last year, the company reportedly handled approximately two-thirds of all trading volume handled by centralized changes, generating revenue in excess of $16 billion
According to these estimates, Forbes has increased its estimate of CZ’s wealth from $1.9 billion last year
The 44-year-old also owns some Bitcoin and an unspecified amount of $BNB, Binance’s native token
2. Sam Bankman-Fried
Net worth: $24 billion
Source of wealth: FTX
Citizenship: U.S.
In late 2021, the 30-year-old will relocate from Hong Kong to the more crypto-friendly Bahamas with his exchange FTX, which raised $400 million in January at a $32 billion valuation
Crypto VC firm Paradigm (led by Coinbase founder Fred Ehrsam, another crypto billionaire), venture capital firm Sequoia, buyout firm Thoma Bravo, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board are among the startup’s backers
Investors recently valued FTX’s operations in the United States at $8 billion
Bankman-Fried has vowed to give away his entire fortune over his lifetime, as a proponent of effective altruism–the utilitarian-inflected notion of doing the best possible
He owns roughly half of FTX and over $7 billion in $FTT, the platform’s native token
3. Brian Armstrong
Net worth: $6.6 billion
Source of wealth: Coinbase
Citizenship: U.S.
Coinbase’s CEO and founder took the crypto exchange public in April 2021 through a direct listing at a stunning $100 billion valuation
Its market capitalization is now roughly half that, but Armstrong is still the third wealthiest person in cryptocurrency, with a 19% stake
Armstrong, known for his plain T-shirts and bald pate, raised eyebrows in 2020 when he ordered his employees to refrain from discussing politics at work
In January, the 39-year-old paid $133 million for a Bel-Air mansion, one of the city’s most expensive real estate transactions to date
Armstrong has recently advocated against the EU Parliament’s proposed crypto legislation
4. Gary Wang
Net worth: $5.9 billion
Source of wealth: FTX
Citizenship: U.S.
The press-shy Wang, co-founder, and chief technology officer of FTX, launched the crypto exchange with Bankman-Fried in 2019
Wang owns a 16 percent stake in FTX’s global business and more than $600 million in FTT, FTX’s native token
Wang previously worked as a software engineer at Google, where he helped build the online booking platform Google Flights
At MIT, he studied math and computer science
5. Chris Larsen
Net worth: $4.3 billion
Source of wealth: Ripple
Citizenship: U.S
Larsen, the co-founder and executive chairman of blockchain company Ripple
Whose $XRP token is currently the 8th largest cryptocurrency, has been busy fighting a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit
Which claims Ripple’s initial coin offering was an unlawful offer and sale of unregistered securities
The lawsuit was first filed in December 2020
Many crypto watchers consider the lawsuit, which is still making its way through federal courts, to be a watershed moment for future token sales
Larsen and Ripple have both stated that they are innocent of any misconduct
Aside from his legal battles, the 61-year-old Larsen has teamed up with environmental organizations to start the “Change the Code, Not the Climate” campaign, which aims to persuade the Bitcoin community to lower the digital currency’s high carbon impact
6. Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss
Net worth: $4 billion each
Source of wealth: Bitcoin
Citizenship: U.S.
The twins, best known as Mark Zuckerberg’s college nemeses, have turned their $65 million settlement with Zuck into digital gold, amassing crypto fortunes of roughly $4 billion each
Since purchasing bitcoin in 2012, the siblings have diversified their digital asset portfolios, acquiring other cryptocurrencies and launching the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini
The duo also owns the digital art auction platform Nifty Gateway, which benefited from last year’s NFT craze
7. Song Chi-hyung
Net worth: $3.7 billion
Source of wealth: Upbit
Citizenship: South Korea
Chi-hyung, the founder of South Korea’s leading crypto exchange, Upbit, has cashed in on the country’s booming $46 billion crypto market
He is thought to own roughly a quarter of Upbit’s parent company, Dunamu, which was valued at $17 billion in November when Hybe, the agency behind K-pop sensation BTS, purchased a 2.5 percent stake
Qualcomm, the world’s largest semiconductor company, previously owned 6% of Dunamu
8. Barry Silbert
Net worth: $3.2 billion
Source of wealth: Digital Currency Group
Citizenship: U.S.
Silbert, the founder of investment firm Digital Currency Group, has built a diverse crypto conglomerate
Grayscale, which manages approximately $28 billion in crypto assets, and CoinDesk, popular crypto news, and events company, are both controlled by his investment firm
Silbert’s DCG has invested in over 200 cryptocurrency startups through its various subsidiaries
Silbert previously worked as an investment banker and entrepreneur, selling stock trading platform Second Market to Nasdaq in 2015 for an undisclosed sum
9. Jed McCaleb
Net worth: $2.5 billion
Source of wealth: Ripple, Stellar
Citizenship: U.S.
McCaleb made the majority of his fortune through Ripple Labs and XRP, a payments-focused cryptocurrency project he co-founded in 2012
McCaleb left the project in 2013 after a disagreement with Larsen and other team members
Since then, McCaleb has sold a significant portion of his XRP in periodic increments, in accordance with a 2014 separation agreement he reached with Ripple Labs
He is the founder and chief technology officer of Stellar, a cryptocurrency
10. Nikil Viswanathan and Joseph Lau
Net worth: $2.4 billion each
Source of wealth: Alchemy
Citizenship: U.S. (both)
Viswanathan and Lau, the cofounders of blockchain decacorn Alchemy, met in 2011 at Stanford while working as TAs for a computer science class; they have since built over ten products together
Down To Lunch, a meetup app was briefly the top social networking app in the Apple App Store in April 2016
Following their discovery of cryptocurrency, the duo founded Alchemy in 2017 as a toolkit for blockchain entrepreneurs and developers
Today, Alchemy is a leading Web3 application development platform, with clients such as NFT powerhouse OpenSea and decentralized exchange Kyber
In February, the company raised $200 million at a valuation of $10.2 billion, less than four months after being valued at $3.5 billion in a previous fundraising round
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