Forbes Richest Cryptocurrency People: Who’s A Bitcoin Whale?

Forbes put together a Crypto Rich List that ranks the 20 richest people in the space of cryptocurrencies, and said those fortunes were made practically overnight.

At the top of the Forbes Crypto Rich List is Chris Larsen, who is the founder of Ripple. Forbes stated that Larsen’s net worth is approximately $20bn in January of this year, which was the result of owning $5.2 billion dollars for XRP, which is the Ripple token. Since then it has lost almost 65% of its value, yet Larsen has still managed to hang on to his spot at the top of the list.

Other notable mentions are Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, as well as the co-founder of Ethereum, Joseph Lubin.

As of now, there are almost 1,500 different crypto coins to choose from, that has a combined market value of $550bn dollars, which is up 31x since the start of 2017. Forbes stated that the prices of those coins will continue to be volatile for investors, but that blockchain-centered coins will be here to say for the foreseeable future.

“The first ever Crypto Rich List shows a snapshot of a key moment in history, as part of the transparency required to pull these coins away from their reputations as an unknown currency.” Randall Lane said who the chief content officer at Forbes Media is.

Forbes Rich List Summary

1. Chris Larsen: Co-founder of Ripple: $7.5bn to $8bn
2. Joseph Lubin: Co-founder of Ethereum: $1bn to $5bn
3. Changpen Zhao: CEO of Binance: $1.1bn to $2bn
4. Tyler and Cameron inklevoss: Winklevoss Capital: $900m to $1.1bn each
5. Matthew Mellon: Investor: $900m-$1bn
6. Brian Armstrong: CEO of Coinbase: $900m-$1bn
7. Matthew Rozak: Co-founder of BloQ and Tally Capital: $900m-$1bn
8. Anthony Di Lorio: Co-founder at Ethereum and Jaxx: $750m-$1bn
9. Brock Pierce: Chairman at the Bitcoin Foundation: $700m-$1bn
10. Michael Novogratz: CEO of Galaxy Digitl: $700m-$1bn

In order to be shown on the Forbes Crypto Rich List, a minimum amount of $350m was needed to qualify.

Forbes stated that due to the opaque nature of crypto and its volatility, it showed an estimate of net worth’s based in ranges. Those numbers were dependent on the estimations for holdings of cryptocurrencies, and found proof via tax profits from trading those assets in crypto businesses.

The average age for people in the rich list against the Forbes 400 list was 42 compared with 67.

The list was further broken down into five groups, being builders, idealists, players, opportunists and investors, although most on the list fit into more than one category.

Forbes went on to say that it was certain that it had missed at least some people from being included, with the same situation when Forbes launched the 400 list back in 1982. However, Forbes added that due to the huge amount of money that these investors have made from cryptocurrencies and other assets, that it would be a great disservice to the community for their earnings to not be reported on accurately.