Earlier this week, Forbes reported that over the past 12 months, the richest crypto-billionaires lost a combined $110 billion, marking a massive 75% year over year decline in wealth.
The outlet had reported in 2022 that the combined wealth of the richest crypto-billionaires added up to roughly $140 billion. However after a year of collapsed exchanges, bankrupt lenders, fraud allegations, government lawsuits and probes, and plummeting asset valuations, the collective worth of those billionaires plunged to under $30 billion as of March 10th, 2023.
The losses also cut the number of crypto-billionaires, from the all-time high of 19 recorded last year, to just nine last month.
The founder of crypto-exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, managed to retain his title of the richest crypto-billionaire, with a reported $10.5 billion valuation, down from $65 billion in 2022.
Behind him was Jed McCaleb, the co-founder of blockchain products Stellar and Ripple, and the creator of MtGox, the infamous crypto exchange. His net worth of $2.4 billion was just below his net worth of $2.5 billion last year.
The third richest position was shared between crypto-billionaire Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the crypto-exchange Coinbase, and Chris Larsen, co-founder of cryptocurrency Ripple. Both were worth an estimated $2.2 billion, with Armstrong previously worth $6.6 billion a year ago, and Larsen previously worth $4.3 billion a year ago.
Fifth and sixth places went to Alchemy cofounders Nikil Viswanathan and Joseph Lau, both worth $1.8 billion each, each having dropped from $2.4 billion in 2022.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, occupied the seventh and eighth positions each worth $1.2 billion, down from $4 billion each.
Position nine was occupied by Matthew Roszak, co-founder of the Chicago blockchain technology startup Bloq. His net worth fell from $1.4 billion in 2022, to $1.1 billion this year.