Richest crypto billionaires, according to latest report by Forbes, have emerged.
The report has revealed the world’s richest cryptocurrency and blockchain billionaires as at 2022.
These billionaires, 19 of them in total, made their riches from blockchain and cryptocurrency.
The past year has been remarkable as we saw a boom in worldwide cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption.
From Web3 innovations, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and Bitcoin and other tokens, people have continued to amass wealth for themselves.
Cryptocurrency became the international buzzword as countries adopted it as legal tender while others launched other blockchain-based currencies.
Others, nevertheless, equally formulated policies and frameworks to regulate Crypto.
Meanwhile, the crypto ecosystem grew so big that the $2 trillion economy provided great opportunities for people to make money.
Expectedly, many more people seized the opportunity to join the billionaires league.
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Seven more person took the opportunity to join this list from last years.
The top three richest on the list are the founders of cryptocurrency exchanges-Changpeng Zhao, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Brian Armstrong.
Meet the billionaires and their companies:
1. Changpeng Zhao:
Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency trading platform, Binance.
The richest person in crypto right now is Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency trading platform, Binance.
He is from Canada and has a net worth of $65 billion.
According to Forbes, Changpeng Zhao is equally the 19th richest person globally.
The 44-year-old crypto billionaire controls at least 70% of Binance.
The crypto platform generated an income of more than $16 billion after facilitating over two-thirds of all trade volume by centralized changes last year.
2. Sam Bankman-Fried:
youngest and richest crypto billionaire, Sam Bankman-Fried
A citizen of the united States of America, Bankman-Fried is the second richest crypto billionaire on earth.
The 30-year-old moved his exchange FTX, from Hong Kong to more friendly crypto environment, Bahamas.
His startup raised $400 million in January at a $32 billion valuation.
Bankman-Fried owns around half of FTX and more than $7 billion worth of FTT, the platform’s native token.
He has a net worth of $24 billion.
3. Brian Armstrong:
Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong
Another top rich billionaire in the crypto billionaires list is 39-year-old CEO and founder of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong.
With a Net worth of $6.6 billion, the U.S billionaire citizen publicly listed his exchange in 2021 at $100 billion valuation.
Also, his 19% stake in Coinbase makes him the third richest person in crypto today.
You can easily recognize him by his usual plain T-shirts and bald pate.
4. Gary Wang:
Gary Wang, cofounder and chief technology officer of FTX
Wang is the cofounder and chief technology officer of FTX.
Together with Bankman-Fried, they launched the crypto exchange in 2019.
Wang has a 16 percent ownership in FTX’s worldwide business.
Also, he has over $600 million in FTT, the company’s native token.
He has a Net worth of $5.9 billion.
The former software engineer at Google studied math and computer science at MIT.
5. Chris Larsen:
cofounder and executive chairman of blockchain company Ripple
The fifth crypto billionaire on the list is Chris Larsen, cofounder and executive chairman of blockchain company Ripple.
A U.S citizen, Larsen, 61, has a Net worth of $4.3 billion.
His company, Ripples is still fighting against a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that Ripple’s initial coin offering was an unlawful offer and sale of unregistered securities.
6 & 7. Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss:
Two brothers, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss launched crypto exchange Gemini and digital art auction platform Nifty Gateway
Two brothers, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss are the next on the crypto billionaire list.
They are worth $4 billion each.
The twin brothers launched crypto exchange Gemini and also own digital art auction platform Nifty Gateway.
Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss delved into crypto with the $65 million settlement they got from Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
Before launching the cryptocurrency exchange, the siblings, who began buying bitcoin in 2012, have since diversified their digital assets portfolios, acquiring other cryptocurrencies too.
They are citizens of the United States of America.
8. Song Chi-hyung:
Song Chi-hyung
He is the founder of South Korea’s leading crypto exchange, Upbit.
Song Chi-hyung if from South Korea and has a net worth of $3.7 billion.
He is said to hold a fourth of Upbit’s parent firm, Dunamu, which was valued at $17 billion at the time.
9. Barry Silbert:
Barry Silbert
Coming next on the list is Barry Silbert, the U.S citizen worth $3.2 billion.
He is the founder of investment group Digital Currency Group.
Silbert also developed a diversified crypto conglomerate.
Grayscale, which manages $28 billion in crypto assets, and CoinDesk, a famous crypto news and events website, are owned by his investment firm.
10. Jed McCaleb:
Jed McCaleb
McCaleb is a U.S citizen. He is worth $2.5 billion.
The billionaire made the majority of his money through Ripple Labs and XRP, the payments-focused cryptocurrency project he co-founded in 2012.
McCaleb quit the project in 2013 after a feud with Larsen and other team members.
Since then, McCaleb has sold a significant portion of his XRP in small increments, in accordance with a 2014 separation agreement he made with Ripple Labs.
He is the founder and chief technical officer of Stellar, a cryptocurrency.
Implications:
Forbes latest report about crypto billionaires opens our eyes the more about the opportunities in cryptocurency.
It also reveals the kind of wealth that you can make through crypto.
However, making money in crypto is not easy.
Nevertheless, with dedication and consistency, you can scale your wealth over time.
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