Perhaps no sector contributes as colorful a character to the world's elite as cryptocurrencies. Over the past decade, the digital asset industry has made millionaires out of geeks, thieves, corporate litigators, and shadowy anonymous internet users in roughly equal proportions.
For example, consider the anonymous hacker who stole $2 million worth of BTC and ETH from now-shuttered Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin in 2016. Gatecoin hackers have not touched the coins since fleeing with the funds eight years ago.The value of today's loot is amazing $542 million– And count.
Then there's Rein Roems, an Estonian businessman who paid just $75,000 for 250,000 ETH in the 2014 Ethereum presale. Romes is currently the world's largest individual holder of ETH, but he has one problem. I lost my private key in his Ethereum wallet many years ago.The cryptocurrencies held by Mr. Roams are probably inaccessible, but at present approximately $869 million.
But even with all this vast wealth, he won't be a finalist for crypto's richest people in 2024. It's not even close.
on tuesday, forbes The annual ranking of the world's richest people has been announced. Under, Decryption We've put together a list of people in the cryptocurrency industry (and anonymous wallets that are believed to be held by individuals) with the biggest fortunes as of today. This list was determined by referring to on-chain data analyzed by intelligence companies. arkham and NansenData compiled by forbes and bloombergand publicly available information.
This list is much different than it was two years ago, when NFTs were king. hot new stuff The first word most people associate with FTX is “basketball.”
For example, FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried, the second richest person in crypto as of 2022, would still be at the top of the list if he had not received any crypto assets. Dew. 25 years federal prison sentence Last week in Deception and Conspiracy.he was ordered by the court to forfeit $11 billion.
Many other crypto elites lost their billionaire status during the last bear market. Digital Currency Group (DCG) founder Barry Silbert, for example, is reportedly worth more than $3 billion in 2022. bloomberg– Later, he became personally embroiled in multibillion-dollar lawsuits from both countries, which took a huge hit on his net worth. New York Attorney General and former business partner Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss. The bulk of Mr Silbert's net worth was his 40% of DCG stock, but this stock is now at risk given the debt and legal concerns.
Song Chi-hyun and Kim Hyun-young, co-founders of South Korean cryptocurrency giant Doonam, are worth $3.7 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively, in 2022, taking into account their shares in the company.However, through 2023, Dunamu's profits will be Shriveled Due to the above 80%knocked both men out of the crypto super-elite.
The fall from billionaire status may have more to do with methodology than bad luck.For example, Ethereum co-founder Joseph Rubin once said Estimation He reportedly managed nearly $5 billion worth of virtual currency assets. However, most of that estimate comes from rumors that Rubin holds a significant percentage of all ETH in circulation.
in consensus 2022However, Rubin said he has never owned “even close to 0.5 percent” of ETH's circulating supply. Considering Ethereum's history, and assuming Rubin was telling the truth, the cryptocurrency's founder never owned nearly $1 billion worth of ETH.Additionally, he appears to have used a significant portion of his ETH fortune to raise funds. Consensis, a blockchain project incubator he founded in 2014. (Decryption spun out From ConsenSys in 2022. )
Perhaps surprisingly, even the most famous figure in the cryptocurrency industry, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, is not wealthy enough to reach the top of the industry. Of course, he probably would have been if he hadn't been so kind: Vitalik donated about $1.5 billion in ETH and Shiba Inu to coronavirus-ravaged India in 2021.
Buterin is currently approx. $863 million The value of virtual currency is overwhelmingly ETH.He also owns an Ethereum software company for an undisclosed amount Starkware-However, it wasn't enough to get him over the $2 billion peak (the lower limit of this year's list of richest people).
Without further ado, here are the richest players in the cryptocurrency industry. They are ranked by the amount of wealth they have amassed solely from cryptocurrencies and stocks in crypto companies.
1) Satoshi Nakamoto ($)76.67 billion)
King of crypto kings.Bitcoin's always elusive anonymous founder owns some assets 1.1 million BTC— and never touched them.
2) Zhao Changpeng ($47.7 billion)
The Binance founder reportedly owns an overwhelming 90% of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Even after payment, $4.3 billion lawsuit Despite filing a complaint with the US government in the fall and pleading guilty to money laundering, he remains the richest (identified) person in the cryptocurrency industry.
3) Brian Armstrong ($11.5 billion)
Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong owns about 16% of the American cryptocurrency exchange. quadrupled in value Over the last year.
4) Giancarlo Devasini ($9.2 billion)
Tether's CFO is estimated to be the company's largest single shareholder, reportedly holding a 47% stake in the stablecoin issuer. Tether is the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and one of the world's largest Bitcoin holders.
5) Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #1 ($6.59 billion)
Little is known about this cryptocurrency wallet, which analysts believe does not belong to a cryptocurrency company or government, making the whale the largest anonymous Bitcoin holder other than Satoshi. After a 5-year hiatus, it has started moving billions of dollars worth of BTC. last week.
6) Mt. Gox Hackers ($5.57 billion)
The bombshell hack of early Bitcoin exchange Mt.Gox in 2011 shook the crypto world. Thieves stole hundreds of thousands of BTC, now worth tens of billions of dollars. Most of the funds are wallet It has remained dormant ever since.Last summer, federal prosecutors Paid Two Russian men were exploited.
7) Michael Saylor ($5 billion)
Saylor, one of Bitcoin's most public and vocal supporters, founded MicroStrategy. worth $13 billion BTC's. In addition to owning approximately 12% of MicroStrategy, Saylor claims: Personally my own worth $1.2 billion BTC's.
8) Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #2 ($4.13 billion)
This major anonymous Bitcoin owner controls 0.31% of all Bitcoins in circulation.First of all, the whale surfaced It was active in October 2021 and most recently in January.
9) Jean-Louis van der Velde ($3.9 billion)
Tether's secretive former CEO reportedly owns 20% of the fast-growing stablecoin issuer. He currently serves as the CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
10) Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #3 ($3.76 billion)
The Next Biggest Bitcoin Whale Isn't Done Yet single transaction Since then I received 53,880 BTC in Spring 2014.
11) Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #4 ($3.73 billion)
In September 2022, this cryptocurrency wallet received over 54,000 BTC from Bitfinex. The company completed several deals by 2023 and then went quiet.
12) Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #5 ($3.6 billion)
In 2018, this Bitcoin whale received over 51,000 BTC. multiple transactions—27% of all Bitcoins in circulation. I haven't seen a peep since.
13) Fred Asum ($3.2 billion)
The Coinbase co-founder then said, paradigmcrypto investment He also helped us get started. Most of his wealth comes from the 6% of Coinbase, which he still owns.
14) Chris Larsen ($3.2 billion)
Mr. Larsen co-founded the cryptocurrency company Ripple. XRP token.rear Larsen, who has endured a brutal lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over XRP, thought the SEC would take action against him personally. Dropped in autumn.Landmark lawsuit against Ripple continues, but there are signs looks encouraging For the company.
15) Matthew Roszak ($3.1 billion)
Rosac He is the co-founder and chairman of Bloq, a startup that consults traditional banks and other clients on how to store their digital assets.
16) Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #6 ($3.07 billion)
Last Bitcoin whale on the list received 44,000 BTC in late 2019, and It has been inactive since then.
17) Jed McCaleb ($2.9 billion)
Mr. Makaleb founded the seminal Mt.Gox and has a storied history in the cryptocurrency space. He then co-founded and launched Ripple Labs. Shortly after, Ripple's competitor Stellar emerged.Most of his wealth comes from XRP He accumulated while at Ripple.
18) Cameron Winklevoss ($2.7 billion)
The man who once accused Mark Zuckerberg of stealing Facebook's idea, along with his identical twin Tyler (below), has found a second calling in life as a cryptocurrency evangelist. Winklevy co-founded the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. Trapped in a trap This is due to the bankruptcy of crypto financial company Genesis after the crypto market plummeted in 2022. Importantly (for a list like this), the two brothers also own an estimated 70,000 BTC, which is enough to make them both multi-billionaires.
19) Tyler Winklevoss ($2.7 billion)
See above.
20) Mike Novogratz ($2.5 billion)
The CEO of cryptocurrency investment firm Galaxy Digital, who owns an estimated $2 billion in the company's stock, is currently rushing to list a Spot Ethereum ETF on Wall Street. Novogratz is also reported to hold approximately $500 million worth of BTC.
21) Stuart Hegner ($2.5 billion)
Tether's general counsel is estimated to hold 13% of the company's stock. The company has experienced considerable legal trouble over the years.
22) Tim Draper ($2 billion)
Draper comes from the more traditional world of Silicon Valley venture capital. Purchased approximately 30,000 BTC seized from dark web market Silk road In 2014, the US government's fire sale was about $630 per coin.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional entries and references. of forbes List of billionaires.
