Top 10 Cryptocurrency Millionaires and Billionaires

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Crypto currencies and specifically Bitcoin originally started as a side project of the enigmatic and mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. In a post on the website SourceForge, he announced ‘the first release of Bitcoin, a new electronic cash system that uses a peer-to-peer network to prevent double-spending. It is completely decentralized with no server or central authority’.^[1]Blockgeeks – What is Cryptocurrency: Everything You Need To Know [Ultimate Guide] What makes it so revolutionary is that it is a monetary system that is completely decentralized. However, this leaves open a whole new Wild West of investing. Using this public knowledge and open source information, many people have become millionaires and even billionaires by investing in cryptocurrencies. Check out the the list below for the top 10 cryptocurrency millionaires and billionaires.

#10: Chris Larsen

Chris Larsen is the co-founder, former CEO, and current executive chairman of Ripple.^[2]Forbes – Meet The Crypto Billionaires Getting Rich From Ripple’s XRP Larsen embodies the spirit of a true Silicon Valley entrepreneur. In addition to Ripple, he also founded several other technology companies including E-Loan, Prosper Marketplace, and OpenCoin.

His current venture, Ripple, is based in San Francisco. Its main product is the crypto currency XRP which uses a peer-to-peer technology similar to Bitcoin. Currently, it’s the second most popular type of cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. As of November 2016, he owned 5.19 billion XRP. At their current value, that is worth over $30 billion. This easily put Larsen near the top of the list of the richest people in the world. In fact, in 2017, he ranked in the top 20 richest Americans on the Forbes richest people list.

#9: Brad Garlinghouse

Brad Garlinghouse is the current CEO of Ripple. However, he was formerly the CEO of Hightail, president of Consumer Applications at AOL, and Senior Vice President at Yahoo.^[3]The Wall Street Journal – Yahoo Memo: The ‘Peanut Butter Manifesto’ At Yahoo, he was famous for his Peanut Butter Manifest. In his manifest, he Claimed that Yahoo! was spreading itself too thin in too many areas, similar to spreading peanut butter too thinly on a piece of bread. As such it was failing miserably.

Currently, he owns a 6.3% share of Ripple. In addition, he owns a large amount of XRP. His current net worth is around $9.5 billion. This puts him in the top 100 richest Americans on Forbes richest people list.

#8: James Gilbert

James Gilbert is the largest shareholder of the US based publicly traded company Crypto Co. He is a tech entrepreneur famous for launching LivingSocial Australia, LivingSocial New Zealand, and Watch.com. His current company, Crypto Co deals primarily in investing in a diversified crypto currency market.He is the millennial version of a hedge fund manager, who invests in digital currencies. His goal is to show that investing in crypto currencies such as Bitcoin makes it possible to ‘operate…in this brand new field of technology’.^[4]Business Insider – An entrepreneur has become a billionaire after investing in a crypto company that is still losing millions In December 2017, the company’s stock prices rose 76%. As such, Gilbert’s investment in the company rose to $1.1 billion.

#7: Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin is the co-founder of cryptocurrency mining company Ethereum. However, his experience in digital currencies starts when he co-founded Bitcoin Magazine, one of the first magazines to specialize in digital currencies. He is a one of the top 10 cryptocurrency geniuses and developers. Ethereum makes its own form of crypto currency. In fact, it is one of the most popular forms of currency in the digital market place. Despite many other crypto currencies continually popping up, Ethereum continues to grow in both popularity and worth. Its biggest defining feature is that unlike other crypto technologies, Ethereum is more than just a form of currency. For example, you can also use Ethereum when developing decentralized applications.^[5]Blockgeeks – What is Ethereum? A Step-by-Step Beginners Guide

#6: Ned Scott

Ned Scott is the co-founder and CEO of Steemit. This company developed a crypto currency based social network. Users can win crypto currencies for their opinions. Scott says that he created Steemit as a way to improve internet communities. In most online communities or forums, its necessary to go through a lot mediocre material to find the diamond in the rough. In fact, it is not uncommon to find many internet trolls. Therefore, Scoot developed Steemit,to allow users to reward other users for useful information and good comments. In essence, this peer-to-peer recognition system rewards good behaviors. The users collect ‘points’ which they can convert to crypto currency.^[6]Steemit – Steemit FAQ

#5: Christopher Franko

Christopher Franko is the founder and lead developer of Expanse.tech. This company is attempting to take crypto currencies to the next level. Franko believes that a decentralized self-governing body is best for society. According to their website, they are making ‘The world’s best governance platform built for a hyper-connected planet’.^[7]borderless.tech They are trying to create a community without borders that includes borderless citizenship IDs, borderless marriage, borderless nations, crypto currencies, borderless public notaries, and borderless asset registries. In other words, Expanse.tech is using the crypto currency platform to build a decentralized application, contract, and information platform.

#4: Dan Larimer

Dan Larimer is the founder and co-founder of several enterprises including Steemit, Bitshares, and EOS. In addition, he is one of the most famous top 10 cryptocurrency entrepreneurs in the world. He doesn’t stay long in each company. However, it seems like everything he touches turns into gold. Even before Bitcoin started, Dan was already attempting to build his own decentralized currency. Larimer did not believe in a centralized currency exchange. He didn’t like that there could be a central body with so much power. When Bitcoin started, he immediately jumped on board. In fact, he even became online friends with the founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.^[8]Bitcoin.com – EOS Has a $1 Billion War Chest – But Will Larimer Stick Around Long Enough to Enjoy It?

#3: The Winklevoss Twins

Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss are twins who have become one of the top 10 cryptocurrency investors in the world. If you have even watched the movie The Social Network or used the website Facebook, you probably know of these Winklevosses. Cameron and Tyler sued Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea for Facebook. They received $65 million in a settlement from their lawsuit. Considering how much Facebook is worth now, that doesn’t sound like a lot. However don’t feel too bad for the twins. They made very smart investments with their money.

At that time,Bitcoins and crypto currencies were still very new and much cheaper. With some of the settlement money, the twins bought 120,000 Bitcoins for $10 per coin. Today, their investments in cryptocurriencies are worth around $1.3 billion.^[9]Business Insider – The Winklevoss twins are worth about $1.3 billion in Bitcoin alone Some investment analysts say that they may even be the first crypto currency billionaires. When asked if they would ever cash out their Bitcoins and crypto currencies, they said only if their investments reached the total worth of all the Earth’s gold. In other words, about $7 to 8 trillion. However, even then, they still might not cash out.

#2: Roman Abramovich

Russian billionaire Roman Arkadyevih Abramovich was technically already rich due to his company Millhouse LLC. However, he invested a lot of his money in crypto curriences, especially Bitcoin. This has made him one of the top 10 cryptocurrency investors in the world.^[10]Cointelegraph – Russian Billionaires Invest in Cryptocurrencies Ironically, Russian regulations with regards to crypto currencies are a bit murky. In fact, currently, they are not legal in Russia. The government is currently deciding the fate of cryptocurriences in Russia.

#1: The Top 10 Cryptocurrency Billionaire – Nakamoto

The most famous of the top 10 cryptocurrency billionaires is the mysterious Nakamoto. While no one knows who he really is, everyone knows what he created. In fact, due to how Bitcoins work, no one knows who the owners of particular Bitcoins are unless they identify themselves. However, internet detectives continue to search for Nakamoto. According to most experts, there are around 980,000 Bitcoins in one person’s possession since the very beginning of Bitcoin.^[11]Time Money -There Could Be Dozens of Bitcoin Billionaires in the World Right Now This suggests that whoever owns them, has a high level of trust in them, and may be Nakamoto. At their current price, this is worth around $11.3 billion.