The enhanced usage of cryptocurrencies worldwide has allowed many people to increase their fortune and become a billionaire. It has been made even more possible following the pandemic when people became intrigued about the art of mining money while sitting at home. The rise of cryptocurrency also occurred because of the increased usage of digital services and products.
Although people were initially skeptical about the legibility of bitcoin, there are no such doubts now. Today, several countries’ governments have shown a green flag to crypto transactions, thus encouraging people to learn mining skills and introducing this topic in students’ textbooks.
The last few years have been a tumultuous time for this currency, giving rise to several bitcoin billionaires worldwide. This blog will introduce you to some bitcoin billionaires who used the currency to expand their fortune. We hope you also learn from them and use virtual currency to your best advantage.
1. Changpeng Zhao
You must have come across this name too often on different crypto websites. Well, it is surely a name to discuss.
Changpeng Zhao is not your mere guy-next-door but the founder and CEO of Binance. It is a popular and the world’s biggest bitcoin and altcoin exchange platform in terms of volume. You can buy, trade, and hold more than 350 cryptocurrencies at a time on Binance. It also allows users to explore endless possibilities by diving into NFTs and growing their businesses.
He tops our list with a net worth of $65 billion. As of 2024, he is the 19th wealthiest bitcoin billionaire in the world, with most of his income flowing from Binance, where he has 70% shares. CZ also realizes money from his fair share of bitcoins and BNB, the original currency of Binance.
2. Sam Bankman-Fried
Next on our list is Sam Bankman-Fried, a 30-year-old American entrepreneur, investor, and probably the youngest billionaire guy here. He is also the founder and former CEO of FTX, a popular crypto exchange, and the quantitative bitcoin trading firm Alameda Research. FTX is another reliable trading platform after Binance built by traders to let people buy and sell BTC, ETH, USDT, FTT, and other currencies without worries and at low costs.
Although born at Stanford, SBF moved to the Bahamas in 2024 to focus solely on building FTX, which garnered $400 million successfully. But it is not just the hard work of SBF that counts. There are many more people who supported the startup during its initial stages.
Sam has vowed to give away his fortune of 50% shares in FTX and more than $7 billion in FTX and FTT throughout his lifetime. Although the youngest billionaire suffers from effective altruism, that doesn’t stop him from achieving everything he wants to.
3. Brian Armstrong
Another top billionaire on the list is American business executive and investor Brain Armstrong. He is the CEO of Coinbase, with a 19% stake in Coinbase, a renowned platform for digital trading currency. The 39-year-old billionaire’s net worth spiked to $6.6 billion when in 2024, Coinbase was valued at $100 billion. It was a celebratory moment for the Armstrong family.
In 2024, he received wide media attention for requesting that his employees refrain from discussing any political matter inside the workplace. The richest billionaire worldwide spent a whooping sum of $133 million on a Bel-Air mansion, making it the costliest property deal in Buenos Aries, Argentina. Buenos Aries was where he witnessed firsthand the effects of inflation on Argentina, after which he kickstarted his crypto investment career.
4. Gary Wang
Another Chinese billionaire on this list is Gary Wang. He is the co-founder of the popular crypto exchange platform FTX, along with Sam Bankman-Fried, who we have already discussed in this blog. Unfortunately, the empire Gary Wang co-founded with SBF exploded in 2024 as the investors began withdrawing their investments at a rapid pace.
Years later, in 2017, he launched a quantitative trading firm with SBF and Tata Mac Aulay. He has a net worth of around $6 billion today, with most of the fortune flowing from his 16% stake in FTX and FTT tokens, with a valuation of over $600 million. He founded the Chinese video-sharing platform Tudou and an animation studio in Beijing, Light Chaser Animation Studios.
Besides being an entrepreneur, Gary Wang is a screenwriter, novelist, and playwright. The math and computer science graduate from MIT is both a geek and a creative person who previously served as a software engineer at Google Flights. Gary Wang has tried his hands in multiple fields, and we are only curious to find out what he does next to expand his fortune!
5. Chris Larsen
Our final selection for the top bitcoin billionaires in the world list is Chris Larsen. He is a 62 years old business executive and an angel investor, probably our oldest selection. Chris is popular for co-founding many Silicon Valley technology businesses, with one focused on peer-to-peer technology.
Throughout his career, which crosses 30 years, Chris has tried various hands-on jobs and co-founded multiple startups. In 1996 he began a digital mortgage provider by the name of E-loan, which was valued at $1 billion in 2000. Five years later, he sold it to Banco popular and co-founded Prosper Marketplace.
But it was only in 2012 that Chris thought of jumping into the crypto market by co-founding Ripples Labs which has a net worth of $4.3 billion today. Ripple Labs is the top digital tokens solution provider, mainly for businesses. It helps organizations of all sizes impact the world using the power of crypto. Its native token is XRP, the 8th largest digital token worldwide.
In 2018, his worth was valued at $59 billion, putting him ahead of Mark Zuckerberg on the list of the world’s richest people for a brief moment.
Wrapping Up
This article discusses the top 5 billionaires worldwide who gained wealth by investing their fortune in digital tokens. If you’re also thinking of trying hands in this market, know that it is relatively young right now, so you might have a shot at becoming a billionaire by employing a combination of skills.
