Yahoo Finance Here are the world's top 10 cryptocurrency billionaires, as ranked by Forbes
Business magazine Forbes has unveiled its first ever rich list of the world’s wealthiest cryptocurrency moguls.
It says that thanks to the extraordinary rise in the number of virtual currencies launched over the last few years and the explosion in values over the past year or so, billionaires have been created virtually overnight.
Heading the list is Ripple founder Chris Larsen, with Forbes saying his net worth came close to $20bn (£14.5bn) in early January, as a result of owning 5.2bn XRP – the token of Ripple.
Its value has since crashed around 65%, but Larsen still holds the top spot on the list with an $8bn fortune.
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Forbes describes the cryptocurrency pioneers as “anti-establishment cypherpunks and electricity-guzzling ‘miners’ to prescient Silicon Valley financiers and a larger-than-usual assortment of the just plain lucky ‘hodlers’, the typo-inspired crypto jargon for ‘buy-and-hold’ investors”.
To make the Forbes’ list, a minimum of $350m was needed.
The average age of the cryptocurrency’s richest people is 42 compared to the average age of 67 of those on Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.
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Brock Pierce, chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, said: “This is an opportunity to be a trillionaire – someone who is positively impacting a trillion living things on this planet.”
Top rankings on Forbes’ 2018 Crypto Rich List
Name | Title | Crypto net worth |
1. Chris Larsen | Co-founder, Ripple | $7.5bn – $8bn |
2. Joseph Lubin | Co-founder, Ethereum and founder at Consensys | $1bn – $5bn |
3. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao | CEO, Binance | $1.1bn – $2bn |
4. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss Co-founders, Winklevoss Capital | Co-founders, Winklevoss Capital | $900m-$1.1bn each |
5. Matthew Mellon | Individual investor | $900m – $1bn |
6. Brian Armstrong | CEO, Coinbase | $900m – $1bn |
7. Matthew Roszak | Co-founder, BIoQ and founder at Tally Capital | $900m – $1bn |
8. Anthony Di Iorio | Co-founder at Ethereum and founder at Jaxx and Decentral | $750m – $1bn |
9. Brock Pierce | Chairman, Bitcoin Foundation and adviser at Block.One | $700m – $1bn |
10. Michael Novogratz | CEO, Galaxy Digital | $700m – $1bn |
Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto did not cooperate with Forbes and is not included in the list.
Others who did make it on to the ranking include Joseph Lubin, co-founder of ethereum, said to be worth $5bn to claim second spot and in third, Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance at $2 billion.
Investor twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss – famous for their claims against Facebook – are in fourth on $1.1bn.
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Such is the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies – bitcoin, for example was trading at almost $20,000 at the end of 2017 but had fallen to $6,200 earlier this week – the list is an inexact science.
The numbers are based on estimated holdings of cryptocurrencies, with some individuals providing proof, such as post-tax profits from trading crypto-assets and stakes in crypto-related businesses.
Forbes adds: “It’s a near certainty that we’ve missed some people and that some of our estimates are wide of the mark.”
