The growth of cryptocurrencies has led to the creation of numerous billionaires and millionaires who recognized the technology’s potential and took calculated risks to build their wealth.
Since cryptocurrencies emerged, a few individuals have
become key players in the industry, accumulating significant wealth along the
way.
According to Forbes’ 2024 World Billionaires List, the
cryptocurrency boom has produced more billionaires this year, with 17 emerging
compared to nine in 2023. Here are the top 10 of them:
Changpeng Zhao (Binance)
Changpeng Zhao, widely recognized as CZ, is a prominent Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur who serves as the founder and CEO of Binance. Binance stands as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.
Worth $33 billion, CZs stake in Binance, based on corporate
documents and conversations with former employees, is estimated to be around
90%, translating to a staggering $32.5 billion valuation.
Brian Armstrong
(Coinbase)
Armstrong, who co-founded Coinbase in 2013 alongside Fred Ehrsam, holds the largest individual stake in the company at 18%.
Coinbase has profited from the rising popularity and
increased value of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, boosting Brian Armstrong’s
wealth through higher trading volumes, transaction fees, and exchange commissions.
Giancarlo Devasini (Tether)
Devasini serves as the CFO and is likely the largest individual shareholder of Tether, the largest issuer of stablecoins in the cryptocurrency market, which are digital currencies pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar or other stable assets, primarily used as a medium of exchange.
His estimated worth is $9.2 billion.
Michael Saylor
(MicroStrategy, Bitcoin)
Michael Saylor has seen significant gains as the top crypto billionaire this year, with MicroStrategy, which he transformed into a bitcoin-focused entity, seeing its shares surge nearly 500%.
The company now holds approximately 193,000 bitcoins, making
it the largest corporate holder globally, while Saylor himself holds 17,732
bitcoins and plans to sell about $200 million worth of MicroStrategy stock.
Paolo Ardoino
(Tether)
Paolo Ardoino acts as Tether’s CEO and is its public representative, holding an approximate 20% ownership stake in the company.
He originally joined Bitfinex, Tether’s sister company, in
2014 as a senior software developer after gaining experience in computer
programming at various startups.
Jean-Louis van der
Velde (Tether)
Van der Velde, the former CEO of Tether, shares identical ownership and net worth estimates with Paolo Ardoino, currently serving as Tether’s CEO.
Both hold an estimated 20% stake in the company and play
crucial roles in managing strategic relationships with banks and regulators,
with van der Velde acting as a prominent figurehead for Tether.
Chris Larsen (Ripple,
XRP)
The co-founder and former CEO of Ripple is estimated to possess a wealth of $3.2 billion. He holds an 18% stake in the company, along with reportedly owning over 2.8 billion XRP tokens and nearly $1 billion in cash investments.
Fred Ehrsam
(Coinbase, Paradigm)
Fred Ehrsam co-founded Coinbase with Brian Armstrong in 2012, holding about 5% of its stock after leaving in 2017 but remaining on the board. In 2018, he co-founded Paradigm, a cryptocurrency investment firm now managing over $8 billion in assets.
Despite a revenue decrease to $2.9 billion last year from
$7.8 billion during the last crypto price spike in 2021, Coinbase returned to
profitability with $100 million in net income, contrasting sharply with a $2.6
billion net loss in 2022.
Matthew Roszak
(Bitcoin, Ethereum)
Matthew Roszak, an early investor in Bitcoin since 2010, has amassed an estimated net worth of $3.1 billion primarily through early investments in various cryptocurrency projects.
Jed McCaleb (XRP
sales)
Jed McCaleb, an early figure in cryptocurrency, founded Mt. Gox, the first major Bitcoin exchange in 2010, which he later sold before it was hacked. He co-founded Ripple in 2012 but departed amid disagreements with other founders, earning much of his wealth from selling the 9 billion XRP tokens he received.
McCaleb sold his final XRP holdings in 2022 and now focuses
on supporting Vast, a space exploration venture, after also founding Stellar, a
Ripple competitor, in 2014.
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