Wondering who the richest crypto holders around the world are? Well you’re in the right place, as we’ve assembled a list of the top 5 richest crypto holders today.
We’ve broken it down into the 5 richest individuals and companies, before also outlining a private company that makes the rest of the whales on the list look like minnows. Let’s jump in.
Five Richest Crypto Holders (Individuals)
Below we’ve noted the 5 richest crypto holders that are individuals. For each individual we’ll break down what they do in the sector and their known holdings (assets).
- Changpeng Zhao
Changpeng Zhao, or CZ as he’s often referred to within the crypto community, is the richest crypto holder individual in the world. The CEO of Binance exchange, the world’s largest by trading volume, has an estimated net worth of over $10 billion. Zhao founded Binance in 2017 with $15 million in funding through an initial coin offering (ICO) for Binance Coin (BNB). The majority of his holdings are in BNB and Bitcoin.
Though the mainstream media likes to drum up sensationalist headlines regarding CZ and Binance, the exchange still maintains its place as the world’s top exchange. In 2022, the exchange processed spot trades worth $5.3 trillion, which was over two-thirds of all volume handled by centralized cryptocurrency exchanges.
- Brian Armstrong
Brian Armstrong is the founder and CEO of Coinbase (COIN), the largest crypto exchange by trading volume in North America. Coinbase is a publicly traded company and at one point had a market capitalization of $100 billion. Armstrong has an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion, though the exact holdings in terms of what crypto assets are unknown. He does own about 19% of Coinbase share which definitely contributes greatly to his overall wealth.
- Chris Larsen
Chris Larsen is one of the co-founders of Ripple (XRP), along with Jed McCaleb who is number 4 on this list, in 2012. He stepped down as CEO in 2016 but he remains an executive chairman within the company. Apart from Ripple, he founded a couple lending companies. He is estimated to be worth $2.6 billion.
- Jed McCaleb
The other co-founder of Ripple, Jed McCaleb has been involved in a few major crypto companies. He founded Mt.Gox, once the world’s biggest Bitcoin exchange, in 2010, before selling it in 2013 just one year before the infamous hack of the exchange. He then founded Ripple in 2012, but left in 2013 due to a different view for the company’s direction. He subsequently founded Stellar (XLM), which is a direct competitor to Ripple as it is also used for remittances. The majority of his wealth comes from selling XRP and his XLM holdings. He’s currently worth $2.4 billion.
- The Winklevoss Twins
Both Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss come in at 5th on this list, both being worth about $1.5 billion. The twins are most well-known for their lawsuit with Facebook, which they won. Their earnings from the lawsuit were then parlayed into a variety of investments including crypto, and they founded Gemini crypto exchange. Cameron is the president of Gemini while Tyler is the CEO. The majority of their wealth comes from Bitcoin, which Forbes estimates they hold 70,000 of.
5 Richest Crypto Holders (Public Companies)
Below we’ve outlined the 5 richest crypto holders that are public companies. These companies hold Bitcoin on their balance sheet. For each company we’ll give a brief explanation of what they do and their current holdings.
- MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor is a well-known proponent of Bitcoin, with the company having the most Bitcoin of any as a balance sheet holding. MicroStrategy currently holds about 130,000 BTC, though at an overall loss compared to buying price. Overall, they have about $3.5 billion in BTC at today’s prices. Individually, Saylor personally owns just under 18,000 BTC worth almost half a billion dollars.
- Marathon Digital Holdings
A Bitcoin mining company, Marathon Digital holds over 10,000 Bitcoin.
- Coinbase
The US’ largest crypto exchange holds 9,000 BTC on its balance sheet.
- Square
The payments processing company holds over 8,000 BTC that they bought at
- Hut 8
A Canadian crypto mining company, Hut 8 holds over 7,000 BTC.
Private Company Crypto Holders
There are companies that aren’t publicly traded that hold crypto, especially those that offer something like an ETF. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is the best example of this, and they’re actually one of the largest holders of Bitcoin and crypto overall. They currently hold over 600k BTC along with over 3 million ETH, making them one of the world’s largest crypto holders.
