Forbes releases the cryptocurrency industry billionaire list: 19 individuals have a net worth exceeding $1 billion, with Zhao Changpeng ranking first

Source: Forbes

Compiled by: Hu Tao, Chain Catcher

From Elon Musk's push for Dogecoin's rise, to Web3 innovations and NFTs, to the wild fluctuations of Bitcoin and other crypto tokens, it has been a crazy 12 months for the cryptocurrency world.

Amid all this action, the $2 trillion crypto economy is not short on cash. Just look at the record 19 billionaires in the Forbes annual World Billionaires list released on Tuesday—7 more than last year—who made their fortunes through cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

Newcomers to the list include the founders of Web3 infrastructure company Alchemy and NFT marketplace OpenSea. The three richest on the list—Changpeng Zhao, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Brian Armstrong—are all heads of cryptocurrency exchanges.

1. Changpeng Zhao

Net Worth: $65 billion

Source of Wealth: Binance

Nationality: Canada

The richest person in the crypto industry, Binance founder and CEO "CZ" is the 19th richest person in the world. Forbes estimates that he owns at least 70% of the world's leading crypto trading platform, Binance. Reports suggest that the company facilitated about two-thirds of all trading volume processed by centralized exchanges last year, with estimated revenues exceeding $16 billion. Based on these estimates, Forbes has raised its assessment of CZ's wealth from $1.9 billion last year. The 44-year-old also holds a small amount of Bitcoin and an undisclosed amount of BNB. Binance announced in February plans to invest $200 million to acquire a minority stake in Forbes through a SPAC deal.

2. Sam Bankman-Fried

Net Worth: $24 billion

Source of Wealth: FTX

Nationality: United States

This 30-year-old moved with his exchange FTX from Hong Kong to the more crypto-friendly Bahamas at the end of 2021, raising $400 million at a $32 billion valuation in January. The startup's backers include Paradigm (led by Coinbase founder Fred Ehrsam, another crypto billionaire) and Sequoia Capital. FTX's U.S. operations were recently valued by investors at $8 billion. As a self-proclaimed effective altruist, Sam Bankman-Fried has vowed to give away all his wealth during his lifetime. He owns about half of FTX's shares and over $7 billion worth of FTT (the platform's native token).

3. Brian Armstrong

Net Worth: $6.6 billion

Source of Wealth: Coinbase

Nationality: United States

The CEO and founder of Coinbase went public in April 2021 at an astonishing $100 billion valuation. Its market cap is now about half of that, still enough to make Armstrong (who owns 19% of the company) the third richest person in crypto. In 2020, Armstrong was known for his plain T-shirts and bald head, and he asked employees not to engage in political discussions at work, drawing attention. In January of this year, the 39-year-old spent $133 million on a Bel-Air mansion, one of the most expensive home transactions in the city to date. Recently, Armstrong has been opposing proposed crypto legislation from the European Parliament.

4. Gary Wang

Net Worth: $5.9 billion

Source of Wealth: FTX

Nationality: United States

As co-founder and CTO of FTX, Wang launched the cryptocurrency exchange in 2019 with Bankman-Fried. Wang holds a 16% stake in FTX's global business, as well as over $600 million worth of FTT. Before entering the crypto space, Wang was a software engineer at Google, where he helped build the online booking platform Google Flights. He studied mathematics and computer science at MIT.

5. Chris Larsen

Net Worth: $4.3 billion

Source of Wealth: Ripple

Nationality: United States

As co-founder and executive chairman of blockchain company Ripple, whose XRP token is currently the 8th largest cryptocurrency, Larsen has been busy fighting a lawsuit with the SEC—first filed in December 2020—alleging that Ripple's initial coin offering was illegal and involved the sale of unregistered securities. The case is still being processed through federal court. Larsen and Ripple deny any wrongdoing. In addition to facing legal challenges, the 61-year-old Larsen has also partnered with climate organizations to launch a campaign—"Change the Code, Not the Climate"—pressuring the Bitcoin community to reduce the massive carbon footprint of digital assets.

6. Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss

Net Worth: $4 billion each

Source of Wealth: Bitcoin

Nationality: United States

These twin brothers—most famously known as Zuckerberg's college rivals (portrayed in the Hollywood film "The Social Network")—have turned their $65 million settlement with Zuckerberg into digital gold, each accumulating about $4 billion in crypto wealth. The brothers began buying Bitcoin in 2012 and have since diversified their digital asset portfolio, acquiring other cryptocurrencies and launching the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. They also own the digital art auction platform Nifty Gateway, which benefited from last year's NFT craze.

8. Song Chi-hyung

Net Worth: $3.7 billion

Source of Wealth: Upbit

Nationality: South Korea

The founder of South Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, Chi-hyung has profited from the country's booming $46 billion crypto market. He is estimated to own about a quarter of Upbit's parent company Dunamu, which was valued at $17 billion last November when K-pop sensation BTS's agency Hybe purchased a 2.5% stake. U.S. semiconductor giant Qualcomm previously held a 6% stake in Dunamu.

9. Barry Silbert

Net Worth: $3.2 billion

Source of Wealth: Digital Currency Group

Nationality: United States

The founder of investment group Digital Currency Group, Silbert has built a diversified crypto empire. His investment firm controls Grayscale, which manages about $28 billion in crypto assets, as well as the popular crypto media outlet CoinDesk. Through numerous subsidiaries, Silbert's DCG has invested in over 200 crypto startups. Before crypto, Silbert was an investment banker and entrepreneur who sold his stock trading platform Second Market to Nasdaq in 2015, though the amount was not disclosed.

10. Jed McCaleb

Net Worth: $2.5 billion

Source of Wealth: Ripple, Stellar

Nationality: United States

Most of McCaleb's wealth comes from Ripple Labs and XRP, a cryptocurrency project he co-founded in 2012 focused on payments. McCaleb left the project in 2013 after disputes with Larsen and other team members. Since then, McCaleb has regularly sold most of his XRP, complying with a separation agreement he reached with Ripple Labs in 2014. He is the founder and CTO of the cryptocurrency Stellar.

11. Nikil Viswanathan and Joseph Lau

Net Worth: $2.4 billion each

Source of Wealth: Alchemy

Nationality: United States (both)

The co-founders of blockchain unicorn Alchemy, Viswanathan and Lau first met at Stanford University in 2011 when they were teaching assistants for a computer science course. Since then, they have built over 10 products together. Their first hit app, Down To Lunch, briefly became the top social networking app in the Apple App Store in April 2016. After discovering blockchain, the two founded Alchemy in 2017 as a toolkit for blockchain entrepreneurs and developers. Today, Alchemy is a leading Web3 application development platform, with clients including NFT giant OpenSea and decentralized exchange Kyber. In February of this year, 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 funding round.

13. Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah

Net Worth: $2.2 billion

Source of Wealth: OpenSea

Nationality: United States (both)

These two in their 30s co-founded blockchain startup OpenSea, an early player in the booming NFT market. OpenSea serves as a peer-to-peer platform for users to create, buy, and sell non-fungible tokens. In 2018, they joined the Y Combinator accelerator program with the idea of paying people in cryptocurrency to share their Wi-Fi hotspots. After discovering CryptoKitties, they pivoted to the idea of building a marketplace for emerging NFTs, which became hugely popular last year. OpenSea raised funds in January at a valuation of $13.3 billion, up from $1.5 billion six months earlier. Finzer and Atallah each hold about 18.5% of the company.

15. Fred Ehrsam

Net Worth: $2.1 billion

Source of Wealth: Coinbase

Nationality: United States

As a co-founder of Coinbase, Ehrsam now runs Paradigm, a firm that primarily invests in crypto companies and tokens. In January of this year, Paradigm invested in Citadel, one of the largest market makers in the U.S. stock trading market. The 34-year-old Ehrsam left Coinbase in 2017 but remains on the board and still holds 6% of the company. Before discovering cryptocurrency, Ehrsam was a foreign exchange trader at Goldman Sachs. This young tycoon attributes part of his crypto success to being a "hardcore gamer" in high school.

16. Kim Hyoung-nyon

Net Worth: $1.9 billion

Source of Wealth: Upbit

Nationality: South Korea

The executive vice president of South Korea's Dunamu, Hyoung-nyon holds a 13% stake in the leading cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, which he co-founded a decade ago with fellow crypto billionaire Song Chi-hyung.

17. Michael Saylor

Net Worth: $1.6 billion

Source of Wealth: MicroStrategy

Nationality: United States

Saylor has turned the business software company MicroStrategy, which he co-founded in 1989, into a Bitcoin proxy company. Just in 2020, this cryptocurrency enthusiast pushed MicroStrategy to use cash reserves and borrowed funds to purchase over 70,000 Bitcoins at a cost of about $1.1 billion. As Bitcoin's value soared, the bet paid off. MicroStrategy's stock has quadrupled in the past two years. Saylor's MicroStrategy announced in late March that it accepted a $205 million loan to purchase more cryptocurrency.

18. Matthew Roszak

Net Worth: $1.4 billion

Source of Wealth: Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies

Nationality: United States

Roszak began buying Bitcoin in 2012 and participated in early initial coin offerings, purchasing tokens like Mastercoin, Factom, and Maidsafe in 2013. Roszak has also invested in various crypto startups, including popular exchanges Coinbase and Kraken. Before entering the crypto industry, Roszak was a venture capitalist at SilkRoad Equity (where he resolved SEC insider trading allegations) and worked in private equity at Advent International in the UK. As a true believer, Roszak recently co-launched an initiative to provide each member of Congress with $50 worth of digital assets, stating that he gave Richard Branson and Bill Clinton their first Bitcoins.

19. Tim Draper

Net Worth: $1.2 billion

Source of Wealth: Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies

Nationality: United States

As a venture capitalist, Draper first invested in Bitcoin in 2012. Two years later, in 2014, he purchased 29,656 Bitcoins at an auction for $18.7 million (at a price of just $632 per token) from the U.S. Marshals Service, which had seized the tokens. Earlier this year, Draper told Forbes that he believes Bitcoin will reach $250,000 by the end of 2022. It is currently trading below $50,000.