BTC Rally Creates Nine New Crypto Billionaires in a Year
2 min read
As the cryptocurrency market continues its bull run, nine new representatives of the crypto industry have joined the Forbes 35th Annual World’s Billionaires List, the media company revealed yesterday.
Sam Bankman-Fried and Michael Saylor are among the newcomers to the Billionaires List, while Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao rejoins the list after having dropped off it during the BTC bear market.
Announcing Forbes’ 35th Annual World’s Billionaires List — The Richest in 2021 #ForbesBillionaires https://t.co/Sc7ie8JlQI pic.twitter.com/YniOjfZwSi
— Forbes (@Forbes) April 6, 2021
Per the list, Bankman-Fried, CEO of crypto derivatives exchange FTX, is the richest of the crypto billionaires, with a fortune of $8.7 billion. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who’s seen his fortune rise from $1 billion last year to $6.5 billion today, takes the second-place slot. He may not have to settle for silver for long, though; Armstrong’s 2.8 million Class A shares of Coinbase could see his net worth rise substantially as a result of the crypto exchange’s impending direct listing.
However, other outlets dispute Forbes‘ ranking. In March, China’s Hurun Research Institute similarly ranked Armstrong and Fried as the first and second-richest in the crypto industry, respectively, but pegged Armstrong’s net worth at $11.5 billion, and Fried at $10 billion.
Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, who is currently embroiled in a $1.3 billion legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission alongside the firm’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse, is ranked third on Forbes’ list, with a net worth of $3.4 billion. Jed McCaleb, also a co-founder of Ripple, entered the list for the first time this year with a fortune of $2 billion.
Other newcomers include famous twin investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. After investing the money they received from the Facebook lawsuit in BTC in 2021, their net worth surged to $3 billion each this year, placing them in joint 6th place among the crypto billionaires.
The list of crypto billionaires is rounded out by MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor ($2.3 billion), early BTC investor Matthew Roszak ($1.5 billion), venture capitalist Tim Draper ($1.5 billion), Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam ($1.9 billion), Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao ($1.9 billion, the only “returnee” on the list), and Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert ($1.6 billion).
