Crypto billionaires are doing well in 2024 as Bitcoin price remains near its all-time high. According to Forbes, Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of Binance, has a net worth of over $32 billion.
Crypto billionaires are doing well in 2024
Brian Armstrong’s net worth has jumped by over $1 billion this year and now stands at over $8 billion. This trend happened as Coinbase stock jumped by over 27% as it became the biggest custody provider for spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETF).
Coinbase’s business did great in the first quarter as Bitcoin and other altcoins jumped. Its revenue soared to $1.58 billion in Q1 from $736 million in the same period in 2023. It also made a net profit of over $1.17 billion from a $79 million loss.
Coinbase also has a strong balance sheet with over $7 billion in available resources, which it will use to grow its business or even make acquisitions.
Michael Saylor has seen a significant increase in his net worth due to the rise in Bitcoin (BTC) and the surge in his company’s MicroStrategy stock prices, which have increased by over 110% this year. His net worth has now surpassed $4 billion, establishing him as one of the richest individuals in the crypto industry.
MicroStrategy benefited from the Bitcoin surge since it is now the biggest holder of the coin. It ended the quarter with over 214k Bitcoins which are worth about $13 billion. Its first-quarter revenue dropped slightly to $115 million as licenses retreated.
Coinbase vs MicroStrategy stocks
Changpeng Zhao (CZ) did well in Q1 as Binance continued to grow its market share in the crypto industry. He also received some good news recently when a judge handed him a four-month prison sentence in the US. Prosecutors had requested a three-year prison term.
Other cryptocurrency billionaires are also doing well. Cameron and Taylor Winklevoss have seen their combined wealth jump to over $5.4 billion.
Giancarlo Devasini and Paolo Devasini, the founders of Tether are swimming in cash as their wealth soared to $9.2 and $3.9 billion, respectively. Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin, is a cash printing machine that holds over $111 billion in assets.
The other wealthiest people in crypto are Chris Larsen of Ripple, Fred Ehrsam of Coinbase, and Matthew Roszak of Bloq. These three have over $3.1 billion in wealth each.
Bitcoin slump might threaten crypto wealth
The wealth of crypto billionaires will likely come under pressure later this year now that Bitcoin is struggling to retest and pass its all-time high. It has remained inside the $60,000 range since March this year.
Bitcoin’s performance is a reflection of the fact that there has been no major news recently. The SEC approved eleven Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year while halving happened in April. Bitcoin ETF inflows have been soft recently.
Analysts have varying opinions on the future of the crypto industry later this year. Tom Lee from Fundstrat and Cathie Wood from Ark believe that the upward trend will persist, with Bitcoin reaching over $100,000 by December.
On the contrary, Peter Schiff thinks that Bitcoin has peaked and anticipates a sharp price decline due to a lack of a clear catalyst.
