Key Points
- The crypto industry has made lots of billionaires who can definitely compete with Forbes' wealthiest people lists.
- There are lots of investors and entrepreneurs in the crypto industry who are worth billions in estimated crypto holdings, publicly disclosed stocks, and private assets.
The crypto winter is definitely over, and Bitcoin's price has more than tripled in the past 12 months, reaching new ATHs in March after the US SEC eventually approved BTC ETFs.
The total value of all digital assets increased by 170%, according to Forbes, adding $1.6 trillion in market value over the past year.
This article reveals the top 12 richest players in the crypto industry who are ranked by the amount of wealth they accumulated exclusively from digital assets and stakes in the crypto companies.
Top 12 richest crypto people
1. Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin creator, is without a doubt the king of crypto - he owns 1.1 million BTC and he never touched them. At Bitcoin's current price, this is worth over $76 billion.
2. Changpeng Zhao
Binance's founder, Changpeng Zhao, reportedly owns 90% of his exchange, which is the largest in the world. Even after he settled the $4.3 billion lawsuit with the US government, pleading guilty to money laundering, he remains in the second spot, right after Satoshi. Zhao is on this spot for the third year in a row.
His fortune in crypto is approximately $47.7 billion.
3. Brian Armstrong
Coinbase's founder, Brian Armstrong, owns about 16% of the crypto exchange, and the value has quadrupled in the past year, bringing forth $11.5 billion.
4. Giancarlo Devasini
Giancarlo Devasini is Tether's CFO, and he's estimated to be the company's largest single shareholder. This means a reported 47% stake in the stablecoin issuer. He holds about $9.2 billion in crypto.
5. Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #1
There is limited information available about this crypto wallet, which experts speculate does not belong to any crypto organization or government. This is a whale with $6.59 billion in crypto.
This makes the owner of the wallet the second-largest anonymous holder of Bitcoin after Satoshi. Following a five-year inactivity, the wallet started moving a significant amount of BTC worth billions of dollars last week.
https://twitter.com/ArkhamIntel/status/1772314487762166258
6. Mt. Gox Hackers
The 2011 hack of Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox shook the entire crypto industry. Thieves stole hundreds of thousands of BTC, valued now at tens of billions of dollars. Most of the funds were stored in a wallet that is still dormant to this day. The value is about $5.57 billion.
7. Michael Saylor
Michael Saylor, Bitcoin maximalist and advocate, is the founder of MicroStrategy, and he has more than $5 billion. His company holds over $13 billion in BTC. Besides being the owner of 12% of the company, he also reportedly claims to own $1.2 billion in Bitcoin personally.
https://twitter.com/saylor/status/1774054751178531144
8. Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #2
There is another anonymous holder of Bitcoin who has 0.31% of all BTC in circulation. The whale first surfaced back in October 2021, and the last time it was active was in January 2024. The whale reportedly holds $4.13 billion.
9. Jean-Louis van der Velde
Jean-Louis van der Velde is Tether's former CEO, and he reportedly owns 20% of the stablecoin issuer. He's now the CEO of Bitfinex exchange, and his fortune in crypto is estimated at a value of about $3.9 billion.
10. Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #3
The next biggest Bitcoin whale has reportedly not completed a single transaction since receiving 53,880 BTC in the spring of 2014. The whale's investments are worth about $3.76 billion.
11. Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #4
In September 2022, a crypto wallet received over 54,000 BTC from Bitfinex. The wallet completed a few transactions into 2023 before going quiet. The whale owns about $3.73 billion.
12. Anonymous Bitcoin Whale #5
In 2018, a Bitcoin whale received over 51,000 BTC, which accounted for 0.27% of all Bitcoin in circulation. However, since then, there has been no activity from this account. This is worth about $3.6 billion.
These are only the first 12 richest crypto figures in the industry and a second part of the top will reveal another 10 crypto magnates with huge fortunes.
