Top Ten Cryptocurrency Tycoons and How they Made their Wealth
“I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.” – Warren Buffett
Global survey website Statista has released a list of the top ten richest people in the cryptocurrency industry.
The report notes that while these crypto tycoons are nowhere near the biggest fortunes of the world, their combined net worth matches the GDP of countries such as Cambodia, Honduras or Cyprus.
The list contains some prominent people in the cryptocurrency space who have used the tech to amass great wealth for themselves. The report further noted their age grade as a differentiating factor from other millionaires, as none of the listed crypto tycoons are over 60 years of age.
Chris Larson:
co-founded Ripple Labs, the company behind the XRP cryptocurrency. Ripple Labs is holding around 50 billion XRP tokens and around 15.8 billion of the tokens is said to be held by Chris Larsen. Last year, when the price of 1 XRP hit ATH of $3.84, Larsen’s value rose to $59.9 billion dollars.
He is undoubtedly the richest man in the cryptocurrency industry, with his value set to grow further as more financial institutions adopt XRP for cross-border payment. According to Forbes, Larson has an estimated net worth between $7.5 to $8 billion, according to cryptocurrency prices as at February 2018.
Joseph Lubin:
Co-founded Ethereum along with Vitalik Buterin and Anthony Di Lorio. In 2014, Lubin founded the Consensus System or ConsenSys, a blockchain tech company creating decentralized applications on Ethereum.
Lubin is said to be the top investor in the Ethereum Initial Coin Offering, and when the price of Ether (ETH) skyrocketed, his value also rose to the skies. He has a net worth of between $1 to $5 billion.
ChangPeng Zhao:
The founder of arguably the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange-Binance. Launched just a year ago, Binance has quickly risen to the top, currently serving over 7 million customers with a daily trade volume of around $1 billion.
The company has its native token Binance Coin $BNB, which is currently the 17th most valuable cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of more than $1.5 billion. Zhao has an estimated net worth of $2 billion.
Winklevoss Brothers:
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss won an $11 million lawsuit against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg over stealing their idea of a social media platform. Four years ago, the brothers invested the entire amount in Bitcoin which has fetched them over a billion dollars today.
The Winklevoss Brothers also founded Gemini which is currently among the largest crypto exchanges in the US. The twins have a combined net worth of around $1 billion.
Mathew Mellon:
The late billionaire’s wealth was lost forever when he died. Mellon was very secure about his crypto assets that he didn’t share his private keys with any person, even his family members. He died in April 2018 and took to the grave half a billion dollars in XRP tokens.
Brian Armstrong:
the youngest cryptocurrency tycoon so far. At age 35, Brian owns a major stake in Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange valued at around $1.6 billion. Brian is also the co-founder of Coinbase which is now the largest crypto exchange in the US. He has an estimated net-worth of between $900 million to $1 billion.
Mathew Roszak:
One of the earliest ICO investors and co-founder of Bloq. Roszak invested heavily in several ICOs including Maidsafe, Mastercoin and, Factom. He is also said to own some shares in Coinbase, Kraken, and BTCC. Roszak has an estimated net-worth of around $1 Billion.
Anthony Di Lorio:
Founder of Jaxx and Decentral. Di Lorio also co-founded Ethereum. He reportedly funded the Ethereum project at an early stage with funds from his prior company. He has an estimated net worth of around $800 million to $1 billion.
Brock Pierce:
Founder of Block.One, the company behind the blockchain project EOS. EOS recently completed its Initial Coin Offering in which it raised an estimated $4 billion, making it the highest funded blockchain project so far. According to Forbes, Pierce has a net worth of between $700 million and $1.1 billion in cryptocurrency.
Michael Novogratz:
Wall Street cryptocurrency investors, popularly known for calling Bitcoin’s price spike over $10,000 in December 2017. Novogratz is an early adopter of Bitcoin and Ethereum and his company Galaxy Digital is running the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index which provides institutional grade benchmark for the crypto market. His net-worth is estimated to be between $700 million to $1 billion.
While the report only lists 10 of the top richest men in the crypto industry, there are still several others who have amassed great wealth from digital assets investment, and there’s still chance for others to become one of them by employing the right investment strategy and learning to make the right moves.