The Top 5 Bitcoin Billionaires
At the top is Changpeng Zhao, former CEO of Binance
The resurgence of Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market has created a new breed of billionaires.
According to the blockchain specialist media outlet BeinCrypto, the total value of all outstanding cryptocurrencies surged by 170% over the past year, adding approximately $1.6 trillion to the market.
This significant rise is mainly due to the legalization of Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) in the United States.
This astounding growth led Bitcoin to break the $70,000 mark last month, spawning new billionaires.
The number of cryptocurrency billionaires has nearly doubled from nine last year to this year. These 17 cryptocurrency industry billionaires hold $93 billion in assets.
Topping the list is Changpeng Zhao, founder and former CEO of Binance. His estimated net worth has skyrocketed from $10.5 billion to $33 billion, making him this year’s highest-grossing billionaire.
Zhao founded the cryptocurrency exchange Binance in 2013. As of July 2022, Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, with 395 cryptocurrencies listed.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Zhao in March last year for money laundering and violating banking laws. Eight months later, he admitted to the charges, paid a $50 million fine, and stepped down as CEO of Binance.
In second place is Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, with assets worth $11.2 billion.
Armstrong founded Coinbase in 2012 after receiving a $150,000 investment from Y Combinator. It has grown to become the largest cryptocurrency exchange supporting services in 102 countries worldwide.
Before the advent of Coinbase, acquiring Bitcoin involved a somewhat complicated mining process. Still, Armstrong, a developer, created a system that bypassed all of this, allowing for easy storage and trading of cryptocurrencies.
The advent of Coinbase allowed cryptocurrency users to trade quickly, which sparked rapid growth in the cryptocurrency market.
In third place is Giancarlo Devasini, CEO of Bitfinex exchange and CFO of Tether Holdings, with assets worth $9.2 billion.
Bitfinex is the sixth-largest exchange in the world by trading volume, supporting 31 coins and 84 markets.
Devasini is a businessman who was previously a plastic surgeon.
In fourth place is Michael J. Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, a U.S. business solutions company and the publicly traded company with the most Bitcoin holdings. He currently holds $4.4 billion in assets.
Saylor is also an early investor in internet companies such as Apple, Amazon.com, Inc., Google, and Facebook. He made headlines with his statement, “Bitcoin is following a similar path to Apple.” He meant that just as Apple has a dominant position in the mobile network, Bitcoin also holds a dominant position in the currency network.
In fifth place is Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether Holdings, each holding $3.9 billion. Ardoino is known to have increased his assets by personally securing 20% of Tether’s shares.
He joined Bitfinex in 2014 and has been serving as CTO since joining Tether in 2017.
Last year, Tether announced it would invest $500 million in the Bitcoin mining sector over the next six months. The goal is to expand the market by securing its mining capabilities.
Tether plans to set up mining farms in South American countries such as Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador and increase its computing power to 1% of the Bitcoin mining network.
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