The crypto world has been through the wringer in 2022, after rising to prominence in November 2021. Countless coins fell, including one of the largest exchanges (FTX), which saw Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang’s billionaire wealth plummet within a week. The NFT market crumbled, and even the BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) NFTs plummeted in value, which left the likes of Justin Bieber suffering enormous losses. However, as we near the end of 2022, let’s take a look at the three richest billionaires in the crypto world.
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Changpeng Zhao – $65 Billion
Binance is one of the largest crypto projects to emerge over the last decade, so it goes without saying that its CEO is on this list of the richest crypto billionaires. According to Forbes’ real-time billionaire tracker, he sits 19th on the list, which is quite an achievement.
The majority of Zhao’s wealth comes from Binance, which helped to facilitate ⅔ of all trading in centralised trading in 2021. On top of this, he has cash held in multiple currencies including BNB, which is the native coin of Binance – let’s hope he’s managing that better than Sam Bankman-Fried.
Brian Armstrong – $6.6 Billion
Brian Armstrong is the CEO of Coinbase, which is a dominant power in the crypto world that reported a valuation of around $100 billion in 2021. Today, the market value of Coinbase is around half of that, but it’s still an enormous player and definitely enough to support Armstrong’s revenue.
With his 19% Coinbase stake, Armstrong recently stirred up a controversial move by telling employees not to discuss political matters while at work. Elsewhere, he’s a strong advocate against EU proposals for crypto legislation and bought the most expensive property in Bel-Air (a mansion worth $133 million).
Chris Larsen – $4.3 Billion
Age is but a number when it comes to crypto wealth, as Chris Larsen (61) demonstrates. The co-founder of Ripple, which is the international exchange behind XRP (7th on the market charts), Larsen is an interesting character to include on the list of billionaires, especially as he’s facing allegations surrounding Ripple ICO discrepancies and unregistered security sales disputes – both claims denied by Ripple.
Get In on The Action
The enormous net worth of some of the most prominent crypto players makes investing feel like a worthwhile endeavour, which it is if you know how. We’re not saying you’ll make billions, but you can dip your toes in the water by exploring a bitcoin trading platform and buy crypto or earn crypto on assets held in your wallet. As well as Bitcoin, there are thousands of other crypto coins to explore including promising blockchain projects like Dash 2 Trade (D2T), which could mean enormous changes across all areas of society.
Take Away
The top crypto billionaires are responsible for some of the best Web3 solutions out there, an area that’s only going to grow as we move into 2023. You can begin riding the wave by opening a digital wallet and heading onto a reputable exchange.
