Top 5 Richest Crypto And Blockchain Billionaires

 Richest Crypto And Blockchain Billionaires 

1.Changpeng Zhao

Net worth: $65 billion

Source of wealth: Binance

Citizenship: Canada

 crypto’s richest person, Binance founder and CEO (CZ) is the 19th richest person in the world. Forbes estimates that he owns at least 70% of Binance, the leading global platform for crypto trading. Last year, the company reportedly facilitated about two-thirds of all trading volume handled by centralized changes, generating estimated revenue north of $16 billion. Based on those estimates, Forbes has raised its evaluation of CZ’s wealth from $1.9 billion last year.

 

2.Sam Bankman-Fried

Net worth: $24 billion

Source of wealth: FTX

Citizenship: U.S.

 The 30-year-old moved from Hong Kong to the more crypto-friendly Bahamas in late 2021 alongside his exchange FTX, which raised $400 million in January at a $32 billion valuation. The startup’s backers include crypto VC shop Paradigm (headed by Coinbase founder Fred Ehrsam, another crypto billionaire), venture capital firm Sequoia, buyout firm Thoma Bravo and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board. FTX’s U.S. operations were also recently valued by investors, at $8 billion. A professed adherent of effective altruism–the utilitarian-inflected notion of doing the most good possible–Bankman-Fried has vowed to give away his entire fortune over his lifetime. He owns around half of FTX and more than $7 billion worth of FTT, the platform’s native token.

 

3.Brian Armstrong

Net worth: $6.6 billion

Source of wealth: Coinbase

Citizenship: U.S.

The CEO and founder of Coinbase took the crypto exchange public through a direct listing in April 2021 at a stunning $100 billion valuation. Its market capitalization is about half that today, still good enough to make Armstrong–with his 19% stake–the third wealthiest person in crypto. A recognizable figure for his plain T-shirts and bald pate, Armstrong raised eyebrows in 2020 after demanding his employees to refrain from political discussion at work. In January, the 39-year-old dropped $133 million on a Bel-Air mansion, one of the city’s priciest home transactions to date. More recently, Armstrong has been advocating against the EU Parliament’s proposed crypto legislation.

 

4.Gary Wang

Net worth: $5.9 billion

Source of wealth: FTX

Citizenship: U.S.

The cofounder and chief technology officer of FTX, the press-shy Wang launched the crypto exchange with Bankman-Fried in 2019. Wang holds a 16% stake in FTX’s global business and over $600 million worth FTT, the native token of FTX. Before going into crypto, Wang was a software engineer at Google, where he helped build online booking platform Google Flights. He studied math and computer science at MIT.

Gary Wang is a co-founder and CTO at FTX Exchange. ... Gary Wang has 2 current jobs as Co-Founder & CTO at FTX Exchange and Founder at FTX US .

 

5.Chris Larsen       

Net worth: $4.3 billion

Source of wealth: Ripple

Citizenship: U.S

The cofounder and executive chairman of blockchain company Ripple, whose XRP token is currently the 8th largest cryptocurrency, Larsen has kept busy fighting against a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit–first filed in December 2020–that alleges Ripple’s initial coin offering was an unlawful offer and sale of unregistered securities. Still winding its way through federal courts, the case is perceived by many crypto watchers as a landmark one for future token sales. Larsen and Ripple have denied wrongdoing. Separate from his legal challenges, the 61-year-old Larsen has partnered with climate groups to launch a campaign–“Change the Code, Not the Climate”–to pressure the Bitcoin community to reduce the digital asset’s heavy carbon footprint.