Denis Opudo
The first-ever list of the richest people in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies by Forbes was released on Wednesday. Their worth exceeds $17 billion. Their worth changes daily as the crypto market changes. Most of the rich people are founders and CEOs of blockchain companies.
The uncertainties in cryptocurrencies make the life of the moguls difficult. The past year saw immense gains. Bitcoin, Ripple’s XRP and ether rose to 1300%, 32000%, and 8000%. The buzz is, however, dying down and the rates are going down.
Towards the end of January, bitcoin came down 28%. It hit $7000 on Monday which is 64% low from its unprecedented high of $20000 towards the end of December. Tuesday came with a 61% drop in all digital currencies. This saw a large difference of $320 billion down from $826 billion.
Digital currencies have pulled in very many people into the market. Everyone is looking to make a fortune just like these richest people have. Forbes magazine gave its first recognition of Cryptocurrency billionaires on Wednesday.
Each of the person’s worth is estimated according to the January 19th rates. Forbes’ editor Randall Lane explains that their decision to feature these crypto moguls is to shed light on the crypto industry. The industry is still lurking in the shadows. It is important for it to gain the recognition it deserves.
The world’s bitcoin billionaires are:
- Valery Vavilov
He is 38 years old and the founder of BitFury. It is a bitcoin mining company that began in 2011. Its mining record stands at 800000 bitcoins. The company also has 400 employees. His worth stands at $500 to $700 million.
- Dan Larimer
He is worth $600 to $700 million. The 35-year-old is a co-founder of three blockchain platforms. He is a chief technology officer.
- Brendan Blumer
Meet 31-year-old Brendan who is worth $600 t0 $700 million. He is the CEO of BlockOne. BlockOne is the company responsible for the Blockchain platform EOS.IO.
- Michael Novogratz
He became a billionaire before joining the crypto industry. He was a hedge funder who attained billionaire status in 2007. He is 53 years old and the CEO of digital assets bank galaxy digital.
- Brock Pierce
A child actor turned billionaire. He funds many crypto-based companies like Tether and Coinbase. His worth stands at $700 million to $1 billion.
- Anthony Di Lorio
Founder of Ethereum and the cryptocurrency wallet Jaxx. The 43-year-old also invests in Zcash, Vechain, and Qtum. He is worth $750 million to $1 billion.
- Matthew Roszak
His worth is $900 million to $1 billion in crypto. He gained his wealth from co-founding Bloq, a blockchain startup. Bloq then founded Tally capital, a private investment firm in Crypto.
- Brian Armstrong
He is a 35-year-old CEO of Coinbase. It is a digital currency exchange crypto company. His fortune stands at $900 million to $1 billion.
- Matthew Mellon
Investor and heir to Mellon banking. He is 54 years old and has a crypto worth of $900 million to $1 billion. He is an early investor in Ripple’s XRP.
- Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss
They are 36-year-old twin brothers with a worth of $900 million to $1.1 billion. They invested early in bitcoin and then became the founders of Gemini in 2015, a digital currency exchange.
- ChangPeng Zhao
The 41-year-old Founder and CEO of Binance. Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. He is worth $1.1 billion to $2 billion.
- Joseph Lubin
He has a crypto fortune of $1 billion to $5 billion at 53 years old. He is the co-founder of Ethereum. Before that, he was at Golden Sachs as an executive.
- Chris Larsen
The 57-year-old co-founder of Ripple. He has a 5.2 billion XRP as per the token from ripple. His crypto fortune is $7.5 billion to $8 billion.
