Crypto billionaires have lost $116 billion since March: report

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The bear market and wave of bankruptcies in the crypto industry has drained $116 billion from the pockets of founders and investors over the past nine months, according to recent estimates from Forbes.

The loss represents the combined personal capital of 17 people in the space, more than 15 of whom have lost more than half their fortunes since March. As a result, 10 names were removed from the list of crypto billionaires.

One of the major losses was attributed to Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. In March, his 70% stake in the crypto exchange was valued at $65 billion, but is now worth $4.5 billion.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion, up from $6 billion in March. Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s fortune has risen from $4.3 billion to $2.1 billion, while Gemini’s Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss were valued at $4 billion in March, but are each worth $1.1 billion now.

Related: FTX Collapse: The Crypto Industry’s Lehman Brothers Moment

Among those who lost billionaire status are FTX co-founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, whose fortunes in March were valued at $24 billion and $5.9 billion, respectively, and $0 in March. December. The $3.2 billion fortune of Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, was also lost following the contagious wave caused by the collapse of FTX, according to Forbes.

Former billionaires also include Nickel Viswanathan and Joseph Lay of crypto software firm Alchemy, Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah of OpenSea, Fred Ehrsam of Coinbase, Microstrategy founder Michael Saylor and venture capitalist Tim Draper.

The cryptocurrency bear market is unlikely to end soon as the FTX crisis has dampened investor confidence and created a liquidity crunch in the industry, Cointelegraph reported. As a result, the market decline is expected to last until the end of 2023.

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