Billionaires gain global recognition because of their wealth, and as success breeds success, the band of billionaires keeps discovering new ways of boosting their wealth. Moreover, new billionaires make to the list more often than before because of the dramatic rise of cryptocurrencies that can change fortunes overnight. We had seen numerous instances when non-descript new-age investors with the gambler’s instinct zoomed into the billionaire club because of their crypto connections. Either they own or mine cryptocurrencies, trade in it, or crypto- entrepreneurs like Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of the crypto exchange Binance who joined the rank of world’s top billionaires in early January. According to reports, his net worth touched $96 billion. Cryptocurrency is attracting the rich and famous like flies to the fire, and they do not mind wasting a few million dollars in their pursuit of the digital gold rush.
The magical journey of cryptocurrency
It took more than 12 years for Bitcoin, the first and most popular cryptocurrency, to prove the magical powers of digital currency that keep churning new billionaires at a fantastic speed. The rise of Bitcoin has been marvelous, but during the most unexpected time when the global economy was reeling under the onslaught of the Covid19 pandemic. During 2020 and 2021, crypto prices went through the ceiling several times to reach new heights, and its explosive run in contrast to the bruised economy was magical indeed. We witnessed a sharp increase in the number of billionaires in the shortest time that no one ever imagined. It’s not a story about rags to riches but how some of the richest billionaires in the world became richer by banking on the power of digital currency.
Let us have a quick look at the list of richest crypto billionaires but with some caveats. The extreme volatility of cryptocurrencies might make a list irrelevant at any moment. The positions can change in a flash, like in early January when crypto CEO Changpeng Zhao topped the list of crypto billionaires surpassing the famed Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin founder.
Changpeng Zhao
Changpeng Zhao is the China-based crypto exchange Binance, which handles incredible trading volumes that touched $2 trillion in 2020. Zhao’s net worth touched a whopping $96 billion in early January. He was close behind Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, whose net worth was $109 billion, and Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO and current owner of Los Angeles Clippers, whose net worth is $112 billion. Both find a place in the list of richest billionaires in America. However, Zhao’s actual net worth could be much higher because the figure does not include crypto holdings and investments earnings. The valuation of the company and the net worth of Zhao do not have any official backing because of the extreme volatility of cryptocurrencies that deterred the company from making a formal official announcement.
Satoshi Nakamoto
The meteoric rise of Changpeng Zhao in January unseated Nakamoto and pushed him to the second position. In the absence of any official records about Nakamoto’s wealth, we have to depend on estimates made by various agencies. The anonymous Bitcoin founder (no one yet knows the real person behind the name) is likely to have a net worth of $60 billion as of November 2021. Based on estimates of November 2021, Nakamoto owns a million Bitcoin, which, if true, would translate approximately to $60 billion at that time.
Brian Armstrong
Brian Armstrong is the CEO of Coinbase Global, the largest crypto exchange in the United States. Armstrong was a software engineer at Airbnb before becoming a co-founder of Coinbase in 2012 in San Francisco. To float the company, he partnered with Fred Ehrsham, a former currency trader. On April 14, 2021, Coinbase went public through a direct offering on NASDAQ and reached $100 billion. Armstrong, whose estimated net worth is $14.7 billion, holds a 19% stake in Coinbase.
Fred Ehrsham
Today, Fred Ehrsham, who is no more with Coinbase but leads Paradigm, a crypto-focused investment firm, is another Crytptocurrency billionaire with a net worth of $3.5 billion.
This list is tentative because it is impossible to create a stable list of unstable digital currencies.
