Amid all the excitement, there’s plenty of money to be made in the $2 trillion crypto industry. Just ask the five billionaires who gained their money from crypto and blockchain technology.

Meet the crypto millionaire club’s unique personalities and thriving businesses.

1. Zhao, Changpeng

$65 billion in net value

Binance is the source of riches

Canada’s Citizenship

Binance founder and CEO “CZ” is the wealthiest person on the Crypto list. He owns at least 70% of Binance, the world’s top crypto trading platform. Binance facilitated over two-thirds of all trade volume handled by centralized changes last year, generating an income of more than $16 billion. Based on these figures, Forbes has increased its estimate of CZ’s fortune from $1.9 billion last year to $2.4 billion. A minor amount of Bitcoin and an undetermined amount of BNB, Binance’s native token, are also held by the 44-year-old. Following Forbes’ previously announced public offering deal, Binance expects to make a significant investment in the parent company that will own the company.

2. Sam Bankman-Fried

$24 billion in net value

FTX is the source of riches.

Citizenship: United States of America

Sam Bankman-Fried is a 30-year-old billionaire. His company FTX exchange received $400 million in January with a $32 billion valuation. He shifted from Hong Kong to the Bahamas after his considerable fortune. Among the startup’s sponsors are crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, venture capital firm Sequoia, buyout firm Thoma Bravo, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. FTX’s operations in the United States were reportedly valued at $8 billion by investors. Bankman-Fried, a self-described follower of effective altruism (the utilitarian-inflected notion of doing the best possible), has pledged to give away his whole fortune during his lifetime. He owns over half of FTX and over $7 billion in FTT, the platform’s native coin.

3. Brian Armstrong

$6.6 billion in net value

Coinbase is the source of riches.

Citizenship: United States of America

In April 2021, Coinbase’s CEO and founder went public with a straight listing, valuing the crypto exchange at a stunning $100 billion. Its market value is now almost half that, yet Armstrong’s 19 percent holding makes him the third wealthiest crypto investor.
Armstrong, who is known for his plain T-shirts and bald pate, raised eyebrows in 2020 when he ordered his employees to stop discussing politics at work. Armstrong has lately spoken out against the European Parliament’s proposed crypto law. In January, the 39-year-old spent $133 million buying a Bel-Air property, making it one of the city’s most expensive home sales to record.

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4. Gary Wang

$5.9 billion in net value

FTX is the source of riches.

Citizenship: United States of America

In 2019, Wang, a press-shy co-founder and chief technological officer of FTX, and Bankman-Fried co-founded the crypto exchange. Wang holds a 16 percent stake in FTX’s global operations and more than $600 million in FTT, the company’s native token.
Before entering the crypto world, Wang worked at Google as a software engineer, where he assisted in the development of Google Flights, an online booking tool. At MIT, he studied math and computer science.

5. Chris Larsen

$4.3 billion in net value

Ripple is a source of riches.

Citizenship: United States of America

Larsen, the co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple. It is a blockchain company whose XRP token is currently the eighth largest cryptocurrency and has been battling a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit alleging that Ripple’s initial coin offering was an illegal offer and sale of unregistered securities. The case was filed for the first time in December 2020. Many crypto experts believe the lawsuit, which is currently pending in federal court, will be a turning point for future token sales. Larsen and Ripple have both stated that they are innocent of any misconduct. Aside from his legal battles, the 61-year-old Larsen has teamed up with environmental organizations to start the “Change the Code, Not the Climate” campaign to persuade the Bitcoin community to lower the digital currency’s high carbon impact.