The world of cryptocurrency is growing at a rapid pace. The number of people investing in cryptocurrencies is also increasing as we speak. This is what brought us crypto billionaires who control vast amounts of different cryptocurrencies and hold them as their asset. Here’s a list of the top ten crypto billionaires as of 2022.
Bitcoin supply is held by fewer than one percent of Bitcoin owners. How much do these Bitcoin billionaires own, and who are they?
1. Satoshi Nakamoto
Unlike everyone else on the list, nobody actually knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is. It was created by an anonymous individual (or individuals) and is responsible for the start of crypto and a great deal of the world’s influence today.
Several people claim to be the real founders of Bitcoin, including Craig Wright, who won a large lawsuit after being accused of defrauding a mining partner of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency. The jury was never able to decide whether he was the inventor of Bitcoin.
They are believed to have mined a total of 1,125,150 BTC tokens since 2009, making them the world’s most productive BTC miner. Also, Nakamoto is said to have kept just over half of this, which is equivalent to almost $30 billion today in USD. If true, they would be the world’s wealthiest Bitcoin owner.
2. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss became known in the crypto industry as the founders of popular cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and angel investment firm Winklevoss Capital. They’re also known for their legal dispute with Mark Zuckerberg over the creation of Facebook, for which they received a settlement of $65 million. It doesn’t matter how you look at it, the tech industry relies heavily on both of these companies.
When crypto was worth a fraction of what it is today, the two announced they owned $11 million in it through their investment firm in 2013. Also in 2019, they invested in another crypto exchange, BlockFi. When the crypto industry boomed in 2020, the brothers’ patience paid off when they held on to their Bitcoin. Around $6 billion worth of Bitcoin is owned by the Winklevoss twins today.
3. Barry Silbert
Barry Silbert founded and currently leads conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG), which specializes in blockchain technologies. In addition to a liquidity provider and an investment firm, this conglomerate includes various companies. Over the past few years, DCG has invested in over 200 crypto start-ups and has acquired prominent crypto news providers CoinDesk and Coinbase.
Considering Silbert’s focus on crypto, it was no surprise he would own his own digital assets.Silbert’s exact holdings in Bitcoin are unknown, however, one of his companies, Greyscale, an investment firm that specializes in digital currencies, manages an investment vehicle that holds over 650,000 Bitcoin. This amounts to more than $25 billion in USD.
4. Tim Draper
The founder of Draper University, Tim Draper has been investing in companies that have grown into industry giants over the years, including Tesla, Skype, and Coinbase. He became a crypto billionaire through his early investments in Bitcoin. He purchased 30,000 Bitcoin for $19 million at a public auction after it was seized from the Silk Road online marketplace. Today, Tim Draper is praised for making a smart investment of this amount of Bitcoins. Today, more than a billion dollars are worth of Bitcoin, so he earned his keep.
5. Sam Bankman-Fried
Sam Bankman-Fried graduated from MIT in 2014 and founded FTX five years later. The founder has certainly made a lot of money with cryptocurrency. In 2017, Fried started a crypto trading firm called Alameda Research. From here, Fried was on his way to accumulating crypto funds.
Fried didn’t even start buying Bitcoin until 2018, and he isn’t even a huge advocate for the digital currency. Fried is interested in making money and impacting the industry, and crypto has provided him with a lot of opportunities. Fried’s net worth is an incredible $22.5 billion, and he is thought to be the richest crypto investor in the world after Satoshi Nakamoto.
6. Michael J. Saylor
Mike J. Saylor’s story began before crypto. He cofounded MicroStrategy in 1989, which provides clients with a wide range of software and cloud-based services. MicroStrategy, however, lost a devastating $6 billion in the dot-com bubble, almost collapsing.
In 2019, Saylor took a big risk and started investing heavily in Bitcoin. He now owns more than 17,700 Bitcoin, while MicroStrategy itself owns over 120,000. This currently amounts to almost $4.8 billion.Investing in Bitcoin was a risky move by Taylor, and it has really paid off.
7. Brian Armstrong
Coinbase was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, and it is now one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges with around 73 million users worldwide.
Armstrong retains a 19% stake, or about $10 billion, in the company after Ehrsam retired in 2017. Armstrong does not know how much Bitcoin he has, but he has many crypto assets, making him one of the wealthiest Americans.
8. Gavin Andresen
Gavin Andresen was one of the first investors in Bitcoin. He bought 10,000 BTC for $50 in 2009, shortly after it was released. Some even think Andresen invented Bitcoin and is the real Satoshi Nakamoto. While Andresen maintains that he is friends with Nakamoto, he played a major role in transforming crypto into what it is today after Nakamoto seemingly disappeared.
When Nakamoto chose Andresen as the successor of Bitcoin, he began fixing the flaws in the crypto’s design, as well as improving the crypto’s infrastructure.
It’s safe to say that Andresen is one of the world’s top Bitcoin billionaires and one of the crypto’s key developers. The Bitcoin Foundation paid Andresen over $200,000 in Bitcoin at the time for his contribution, which is now worth billions.
If You’re Holding Cryptocurrency, Congratulations!
The crypto market tends to oscillate between highs and lows, but it is without a doubt that its continued growth will result in more huge profits for both lucky and savvy investors in the future. Only time will tell which tokens will lead to success and which buyers will make headlines next! The next Draper or Andresen may not yet own a single token!
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Author
Chris Munch is a professional cryptocurrency and blockchain writer with a background in software businesses, and has been involved in marketing within the cryptocurrency space. With a passion for innovation, Chris brings a unique and insightful perspective to the world of crypto and blockchain. Chris has a deep understanding of the economic, psychological, marketing and financial forces that drive the crypto market, and has made a number of accurate calls of major shifts in market trends. He is constantly researching and studying the latest trends and technologies, ensuring that he is always up-to-date on the latest developments in the industry. Chris’ writing is characterized by his ability to explain complex concepts in a clear and concise manner, making it accessible to a wide audience of readers.
