Head back just over a decade and cryptocurrencies were only just getting started, valuations for currencies such as Bitcoin were next to nothing and their existence was not widely known about.
Now, Elon Musk has hailed new cryptocurrency ‘Dogecoin’ as the future currency of the world and his company Tesla has purchased $1.5bn in Bitcoin.
With different types of cryptocurrencies emerging and their popularity growing every day, who are some of the richest people in crypto?
New research from Traders of Crypto has revealed that Satoshi Nakamoto, the infamous founder of Bitcoin, tops the rich list, with an estimated worth of over $34bn.
The full list of richest people in crypto is as follows:
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Company | Age | Estimated Net Worth |
| 1 | Satoshi Nakamoto | Japan | Bitcoin | 45 | $34,937,100,000 |
| 2 | Micree Zhan | China | Bitmain | 41 | $3,200,000,000 |
| 3 | Chris Larsen | United States | Ripple | 60 | $2,700,000,000 |
| 4 | Changpeng Zhao | China | Binance | 43 | $2,600,000,000 |
| 5 | Jihan Wu | China | Bitmain | 34 | $1,800,000,000 |
| 6 | Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss | United States | Winklevoss Capital | 39 | $1,400,000,000 |
| 6 | Xu Mingxing | China | OKCoin | 34 | $1,400,000,000 |
| 8 | Matthew Roszak | United States | Bloq | 48 | $1,200,000,000 |
| 9 | Li Lin | China | Huobi | – | $1,100,000,000 |
| 9 | Tim Draper | United States | Draper Associates | 62 | $1,100,000,000 |
| 11 | Joseph Lubin | Canada | Ethereum | 56 | $1,000,000,000 |
| 11 | Brian Armstrong | United States | Coinbase | 37 | $1,000,000,000 |
| 13 | Anthony Di Iorio | Canada | Ethereum | 45 | $750,000,000 |
| 14 | Brock Pierce | United States | Bitcoin Foundation | 40 | $700,000,000 |
| 15 | Dan Larimer | United States | Block.one | 37 | $600,000,000 |
| 15 | Brendan Blumer | United States | Block.one | 34 | $600,000,000 |
| 15 | Michael J. Saylor | United States | MicroStrategy | 55 | $600,000,000 |
| 18 | Valery Vavilov | Latvia | Bitfury | 40 | $500,000,000 |
| 18 | Blythe Masters | United Kingdom | Digital Asset Holdings | 51 | $500,000,000 |
| 18 | Charles Hoskinson | United States | Cardano | 33 | $500,000,000 |
| 21 | Michael Novogratz | United States | Galaxy Digital | 56 | $478,000,000 |
| 22 | Roger Ver | Saint Kitts & Nevis | Bitcoin.com | 41 | $430,000,000 |
| 23 | Brad Garlinghouse | United States | Ripple | 49 | $400,000,000 |
| 23 | Barry Silbert | United States | Digital Currency Group | 43 | $400,000,000 |
| 25 | Vitalik Buterin | Russia | Ethereum | 26 | $360,000,000 |
The research from Traders of Crypto has found a gender disparity on the list, with only one of the 25 being female, Bythe Masters. However, Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity does remain a mystery, so there is a possibility that the world’s richest person in crypto could be female.
The average age of those on the list was 43 years old, the youngest being Vitalik Buterin, who at just 26 has a worth of an estimated net worth of $360 million, while Tim Draper is the eldest at 62 years old, with an estimated $1.1 billion net worth.
When it comes to Cryptocurrency, should you be investing?
Gregory Klumov, CEO of Stablecoin Platform STASIS says that investors need to keep buying Bitcoin and develop a buying strategy, as it’s a great way of saving money and storing value.
He says: “A smart strategy would be to buy a fraction once a week, once a month, regardless of the price. It is an asset that will carry value 20 years into the future. Therefore, $48.000 or $52.000 – is not so important. It is much more vital that more and more companies will buy it not as a means of speculation but as a store of value, which means that the lower band’s price will constantly rise.
“It was $3.500 last year, this year it will probably be $35.000, next year it will be an even higher threshold. But at the same time, there may be a sharp correction from $52.000 to, for example, $35.000. No one can ever predict this. I’ve seen Bitcoin at $100, so it’s a philosophical question that someone didn’t have time to buy something. It is necessary to develop a buying strategy, and if you are exposed to emotions, you can lose a lot of money.
“It’s clear that negative real interest rates continue to push big players and corporates into alternative treasury assets like Bitcoin. I can foresee more enterprises joining the club in the long run. We are nowhere near a bubble though, the whole story of corporate demand story is just starting,”
