Forbes List Shows 17 Crypto Billionaires Led By Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao And Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong

Updated: 03 April 2024

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The founders of the world’s two biggest crypto exchanges, Changpeng Zhao and Brian Armstrong, are the richest individuals in the crypto industry.

That’s according to Forbes, which unveiled on April 2 its annual ranking of the richest crypto billionaires.

Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, tops the list, even as he awaits sentencing in the US on money laundering charges after agreeing to pay $200 million in fines and to step down as the CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange for three years. Despite those setbacks and an exodus of executive staff from Binance last year, Forbes estimates his fortune at $33 billion.

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the largest US cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, is in 2nd place with a net worth of $11.2 billion after the exchange’s stock price soared 200% in the past year. Armstrong holds an 18% stake in Coinbase.

For the third year running, Changpeng Zhao, founder and former CEO of crypto exchange Binance, is crypto’s wealthiest person. https://t.co/Cbx0JTN775 #ForbesBillionaires

— Forbes (@Forbes) April 3, 2024

Tether Billionaires

Names associated with USDT stablecoin issuer Tether feature prominently on the Forbes list. CFO Giancarlo Devasini comes in third with a net worth of more than $9.2 billion built off his 47% stake in Tether, the largest stablecoin with a market cap of over $105 billion.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino ranked 5th with a net worth of $3.9 billion. Tether CEO Jean-Louis van der Velde is ranked 6th with an identical net worth to Ardoino, while general counsel Stuart Hogner came in 14th with a net worth of $2.5 billion.

Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor, ranked 4th, is estimated to have a net worth of $4.4 billion after his MicroStrategy accumulated more than 200,000 BTC.

More Crypto Names on the Forbes Billionaires List

Ripple’s co-founder Chris Larsen is ranked 7th with a $3.2 billion net worth, while the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, who founded crypto exchange Gemini, have a net worth of $2.7 billion each and are ranked joint 11th.

The CEO of Galaxy Digital, Michael Novogratz, is worth $2.5 billion, which ranked him as the 13th richest person in crypto. Novogratz reportedly holds $500 million worth of Bitcoin and his crypto investment firm listed a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the US in January.

Tim Draper, who purchased nearly all the Bitcoin seized by the US government from Silk Road and is ranked 15th, has a net worth of $2 billion. Draper bought nearly 30,000 BTC for $630 each in 2014.