By James Davis
The adoption of cryptocurrencies has been on the rise in recent months. That means more people are channeling their funds to various projects with hopes of generating significant wealth in the long run. The growth in crypto investments is driven by several success stories from prominent crypto investors who bought BTC when it was priced below $1,000 and those who began crypto-focused businesses.
That being said, you can also become a crypto whale by investing or trading well and starting a business.
How Many Crypto Billionaires Are There?
Before diving deeper, it is important we first define the term ‘crypto billionaire.’ Simply put, a crypto billionaire is an individual who earned their wealth by investing directly in crypto assets or crypto businesses. As of March 2023, there are 19 known crypto billionaires worldwide.
Most of these crypto billionaires have generated their wealth from owning a crypto company or investing in Bitcoin. Those who own businesses include Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, Opensea founders Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah, Ripple founders Jed McCaleb and Chris Larsen, and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin.
16 out of the 19 have US passports. Meanwhile, one crypto billionaire, Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity is still anonymous, couldn’t be identified with any nationality.
Who is the Richest Crypto Billionaire?
The founder of the largest crypto exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, is the richest crypto billionaire. He owns a majority stake of 75% in the company, estimated to be worth billions. Binance keeps its users’ dream of becoming crypto billionaires alive by supporting the trading of multiple digital assets, including BTC and altcoins.
On top of his Binance stake, Zhao has invested significantly in Bitcoin. He also has an interest in BNB Coin, the native token of his exchange. His total net worth of roughly $28 billionaire makes him the 47th richest person in the entire world.
Who is the Youngest Crypto Billionaire?
The founder of the now-fallen crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been considered the youngest crypto billionaire for the last few years. However, with several of his assets frozen due to an ongoing case regarding the collapse of the exchange, it appears that Bankman-Fried is no longer holding the ‘youngest billionaire’ title, but Vitalik Buterin is.
The founder of the second-largest blockchain, Ethereum, owns about 291,000 ETH among other crypto assets. According to data from Forbes, the 29-year-old has a net worth of $1.1 billion.
Who are the Largest BTC Holders?
The Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is the biggest whale, holding over 1.1 million BTC. Crypto company Grayscale comes in second with 621,000 BTC, and Binance ranks third with 405,000 BTC. Other firms that hold a significant amount of BTC include Bitfinex (205,000 BTC), OKX (200,303 BTC), Microstrategy (123,467 BTC), and Block.one (101,200 BTC).
Most of these whales do not store their crypto assets in a single wallet. Instead, they own several. For instance, the Bitcoin founder uses over 20,000 wallets. Binance and Bitfinex also use numerous wallets. As of March 2023, only five wallets hold 90,000 BTC or more.
It is worth highlighting that Bitcoin whales may pose a considerable risk to retail investors, especially when one decides to sell all their BTC holdings at once. This will likely lead to the price of Bitcoin dropping sharply, causing other small investors financial losses. On the upside, whales can cause the BTC price to surge when they buy large amounts of this crypto asset.