Top crypto billionaires are facing a tough year in the crypto market, the cryptocurrency billionaire is Some of the biggest losers of all, these billionaires lost over 75% of their wealth in just 12 months. Why it could get even worse as U.S. regulators and prosecutors take more regulations Cryptocurrency billionaires are facing Fraud allegations, government lawsuits and investigations, internecine squabbling, and slumping asset valuations combined to bruise a fragile industry.
Over 12 months leading up to March 2022 to March 2023, cryptocurrencies divest around $700 billion in market value–falling to $1 trillion–according to CoinMarketCap. On top of that, valuations for private crypto startups declined due to rising interest rates and investors pulling money from tech in recent times. Crypto market contagion, which began last summer with the blowup of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and culminated in FTX’s implosion in November, sparked a sprawling U.S. regulatory crackdown, led by SEC Commissioner Gary Gensler and U.S. prosecutors, that has spooked investors and left no crypto billionaire unscathed.
Its billionaire promoters have lost a combined $110 billion in the last year, according to Forbes’ 2023 World’s Billionaires List, an annual compilation of ten-figure fortunes. Last year Forbes identified 19 crypto billionaires, the most ever, who were worth a collective $140 billion. Now, those same individuals are worth less than $30 billion, as of March 10, 2023, the date Forbes measured net worths for its list. Ten of them are no longer billionaires.
Here is how crypto’s richest investors have fared over the last twelve months.
1. Changpeng Zhao, founder, and CEO of crypto exchange Binance is still top as the industry’s richest person, though his fortune at $10.5 billion, down from $65 billion a year ago.
2. Brian Armstrong, CEO and co-founder of U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase, is worth $2.2 billion–down from $6.6 billion last year, as a result of a slide in shares of his publicly traded company.
3. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twins of The Social Network fame, are each worth $1.2 billion, down from $4 billion apiece last year, due to mounting problems at their privately held exchange Gemini.
4. Silbert, formerly worth $3.2 billion, now is worth an estimated $400 million.
5. Jed McCaleb, an early cryptocurrency pioneer and cofounder of Ripple, has become a billionaire by selling his XRP, per the terms of a separation agreement he reached with Ripple
6. Chris Larsen, co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple. Net worth $4.3 billion down to $2.2 billion currently
7. Nikil Viswanathan and Joseph Lau co-founded Web3 infrastructure developer Alchemy. $1.8 billion each (down from $2.4 billion each)
8. Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss, creators of crypto exchange Gemini Trust as Co. Net worth down from $4 billion to $1.2 billion each.
9. Matthew Roszak Net worth $1.1 billion down from $1.4 billion Source of wealth: Bitcoin, Ether
10. Song Chi-hyung Net worth is $950 million down from $3.7 billion Source of wealth: Upbit
12. Fred Ehrsam Co-founder of Coinbase Down from a $2.1 billion Net worth of $930 million currently as his Source of wealth is Coinbase.
13. Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, Net worth Estimated at less than $10 million down from $24 billion; former source of wealth: FTX
14. Gary Wang Former source of wealth: FTX, Net worth Estimated at less than $10 million (down from $5.9 billion)