In line with its famous “Rich list”, Forbes has released a new report on the twenty richest people based on their estimated holdings in cryptocurrency.
Forbes based its statistics on estimated holdings of cryptocurrencies, post-tax profits from trading crypto-assets and stakes in crypto-related businesses, and locked in the estimates using prices on 19 January 2018.
While it acknowledged that it likely missed some people (due to the secretive nature of Bitcoin), the report said that this was also the case for its traditional rich list, and that it was vitally important to produce the list and “make the world a better place by shining a light on the invisible rich”.
According to the data you would need a minimum of $350 million minimum to make the list of cryptocurrency’s wealthiest people.
You are also more likely to be younger than the rest of the world’s wealthy, with Forbes finding that the average age of the cryptocurrency’s richest people was just 42 (compared to 67 on the Forbes 400 list).
| Name | Estimated Crypto Net Worth (USD) | Reason for wealth |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Larsen | $7.5 billion – $8 billion | Co-founder Ripple |
| Joseph Lubin | $1 billion – $5 billion | Co-founder Ethereum |
| Changpeng Zhao | $1.1 billion – $2 billion | Creator of Binance. |
| Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss | $900 million – $1.1 billion | Co-founders of Winklevoss capital |
| Matthew Mellon | $900 million – $1 billion | Individual investor |
| Brian Armstrong | $900 million – $1 billion | CEO of Coinbase |
| Matthew Roszak | $900 million – $1 billion | Founder of Tally Capital |
| Anthony Di Iorio | $750 million – $1 billion | Founder of Jaxx and Decentral |
| Brock Pierce | $700 million – $1 billion | Chairman of Bitcoin Foundation |
| Michael Novogratz | $700 million – $1 billion | CEO of Galaxy Digital |
| Brendan Blumer | $600 million – $700 million | CEO of Block.one |
| Dan Larimer | $600 million – $700 million | CTO of Block.one |
| Valery Vavilov | $500 million – $700 million | CEO of Bitfury |
| Charles Hoskinson | $500 million – $600 million | Co-founder of Ethereum and IOHK |
| Brad Garlinghouse | $400 million – $500 million | CEO of Ripple |
| Barry Silbert | $400 million – $500 million | CEO of Digital Currency Group |
| Vitalik Buterin | $400 million – $500 million | Creator of Ethereum |
| Tim Draper | $350 million – $500 million | Founder of Draper Associates |
| Song Chi-Hyung | $350 million – $500 million | CEO of Dunamu |