AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Highlights:
- This year the crypto elite list has 19 billionaires compared to 12 billionaires the previous year.
- The top three billionaires on the list are heading crypto exchanges.
- Binance CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao holds the top spot with an estimated net worth of US$65 billion.
Forbes has come out with its updated crypto billionaires list for 2022, which has expanded by 58% over the last year. The crypto elite list for 2022 has 19 billionaires this year compared to 12 billionaires who made it to the coveted list the previous year.
The top three billionaires on the list--Changpeng Zhao, Sam Bankman-Fried and Brian Armstrong--are owners of crypto exchanges, indicating the growing acceptance of cryptos as an alternative form of investment globally.
Binance CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao (also known as CZ), now a Canadian citizen, holds the top spot in the list with an estimated net worth of US$65 billion this year. According to Forbes, CZ owns at least a 70% stake in Binance, the leading global crypto exchange. Last year, Binance reportedly clocked revenue of more than US16 billion. Due to this, Forbes has raised its estimate of CZ's wealth by US$63.1 billion over last year's estimate of US$1.9 billion. According to Forbes after Tesla's Elon Musk, CZ is the second biggest wealth gainer over the past year. CZ is now the 19th richest globally due to his recently accrued wealth.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX crypto derivatives exchange, has grabbed the second spot with a whopping US$24 billion in estimated wealth. In late 2021, Sam moved to the crypto-friendly Bahamas from Hong Kong alongside FTX, which reportedly raised US$ 400 million in January at a whopping valuation of US$32 billion. Sam has repeatedly said that he wants to give away thenmajority of this fortune. Due to this he has been dubbed the “Crypto Robin Hood.”
The CEO and founder of Coinbase Brian Armstrong is in the third spot on the list with estimated fortunes of around US$6.6 billion. Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., was listed directly on the Nasdaq in April 2021 at a valuation of US$100 billion. Although Coinbase could not manage to retain its US$100 billion after listing, with a 19% stake in the exchange, Armstrong has managed to become the third wealthiest person in the crypto industry.
Similarly, Gary Wang, cofounder and chief technology officer of FTX, is the fourth richest in the crypto industry, with an estimated fortune of around US$5.9 billion. He holds a 16% stake in FTX's global business. Before entering the crypto industry, Wang was a software engineer at internet giant Google. He is an MIT alumnus.
Chirs Larsen (estimates wealth US$4 billion) of Ripple holds the fifth position in the list. The twin brothers Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, who have been investing in Bitcoin since 2012, are in sixth place on the Forbes list with an estimated fortune of US$4 billion.
Nikil Viswanathan and Joseph Lau, cofounders of the blockchain and Web3 company Alchemy are among the seven newcomers in the list. These two reportedly have a net worth of around US$2.4 billion each, ranking them at eleventh.
Similarly, Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah, co-founders of OpenSea, an NFT marketplace, are also newcomers on this year’s list, finding themselves at 13th place with an estimated net worth of US$2.2 billion each.
Worth mentioning here is that when Forbes published the first crypto elite list for the first time in 2018, US$350 million was the cut-off to get on the list, and just a handful of executives made it to the list.
Risk Disclosure: Trading in cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory, or political events. The laws that apply to crypto products (and how a particular crypto product is regulated) may change. Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading in the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed. Kalkine Media cannot and does not represent or guarantee that any of the information/data available here is accurate, reliable, current, complete or appropriate for your needs. Kalkine Media will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading or your reliance on the information shared on this website.
