Forbes ‘World’s Billionaire List’ Features 16 Crypto Moguls

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Crypto Billionaires: The New Aristocracy? 🤑

Forbes ‘World’s Billionaire List’ Features 16 Crypto Moguls

As the great Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy, once said, “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” And what better embodiment of these virtues than the crypto industry, which has managed to produce 16 billionaires in just a few short years? 🤯

Crypto Wealth Surge: 16 Digital Asset Billionaires Make Forbes 2025 List

Nothing screams success like the word “billionaire,” and this year, the crypto industry has sixteen moguls worth ten figures on the Forbes “World’s Billionaire List” published on April 1st.

It can be argued that crypto made its entrance into the mainstream in 2024 when the first spot bitcoin ( BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) was approved, a presidential candidate headlined a Bitcoin conference, and BTC cracked six figures for the first time ever. That success has also garnered great fortunes, some of which are as high as $63 billion, as in the case of Binance‘s Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who is officially the richest crypto mogul on the planet, according to Forbes.

(Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is the richest man in crypto / Binance)

“I quit my job, sold my house, and aped into bitcoin,” Zhao tweeted in 2023.

And now, the 48-year-old entrepreneur is in good company. There are fifteen other magnates who have also managed to amass mind-boggling crypto fortunes totaling more than $164 billion, with a median net worth of $6.8 billion.

Tether Mints Four Billionaires

The second richest man in crypto is not a household name, but his company, Tether is. Sixty-year-old Giancarlo Devasini is the stablecoin issuer’s chief financial officer and, according to Forbes, is likely the firm’s largest shareholder. His net worth is said to be about $22.4 billion.

(Giancarlo Devasini is rumored to be Tether’s largest shareholder / Le Temps)

Tether raked in a record 13 billion in profit last year. Not bad for a company with an estimated 100 employees. In fact, the firm’s former CEO, JL van der Velde, current CEO Paolo Ardoino, and General Counsel Stuart Hoegner all made the billionaire list this year.

Cryptocurrency Exchange Founders Dominate

Zhao founded the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, and it seems running a crypto exchange is a sure-fire way to riches. In 2012, Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam co-founded Coinbase, now the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. Both made the billionaire list, and so did Gemini’s identical twin brother co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

(Justin Sun founded the Tron blockchain, but one of his companies also owns the Polo crypto exchange / Justin Sun)

Tron Founder Justin Sun could also be lumped into that group since one of his companies owns Polo Digital Assets, formerly Poloniex, an old-school crypto exchange. But Sun acquired Polo and is not its founder. Much of his $8.5 billion fortune likely comes from Tron, the project he’s most well known for.

Investors and Entrepreneurs Cash In

The final category of crypto billionaires features investors and entrepreneurs from different backgrounds. Some, such as Ripple‘s Chris Larsen and Stellar’s Jed McCaleb, launched their own blockchains, while others, such as Tim Draper, are strictly venture capitalists.

Mike Novogratz and Matthew Roszak have their fingers in many pots, including venture capital. Both men have also launched crypto companies that are not blockchain platforms.

Perhaps one of the more famous personalities on Forbes’ billionaire list is Michael Saylor, Chairman of Strategy, who is reportedly worth $7.4 billion. Saylor initially made his fortune running Microstrategy, the software company he co-founded in 1989, which was rebranded to Strategy in February, reflecting its pivot to bitcoin treasury management. More recently, however, bitcoin appears to have contributed significantly to his net worth.

(Strategy founder speaking at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee / BTC Media LLC)

Strategy, at the time of reporting, holds 528,185 BTC, currently worth around $45 billion. Saylor once tweeted that he personally owned 17,732 BTC in 2020 (currently worth about $1.5 billion), and in 2024, he reportedly said, “ I continue to acquire more.”

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2025-04-02 11:31