Crypto billionaires saw their fortunes drop massively in 2022

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2022 was the year it all came crashing down for the crypto industry. The latest Forbes report shows that even the wealthiest in the industry have been significantly affected, as the top 17 crypto billionaires have lost $116 billion of their net worth.

The loss resulted from the bankruptcies of several crypto companies and the bear market. Due to the massive loss, 10 out of 17 crypto billionaires were removed from the list.

Source: ForbesSBF and other FTX-linked net worth drops to zero

The most notable dropout is disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. At the start of the year, SBF was worth around $24 billion, while FTX had just closed a $400 million funding round that valued it at $32 billion.

But less than a year later, FTX filed for bankruptcy while SBF is worth nearly zero. According to him, he has less than $100,000 in his account and he does not know how he will pay his lawyers.

Meanwhile, he’s not the only crypto billionaire whose net worth has dropped to zero in the past year. Others on the list include FTX CTO Gary Wang and Barry Silbert of Digital Currency Group (DCG).

For Barry Silbert, Forbes wrote that DCG’s potential insolvency contributed to the significant decline in his net worth. Reports have emerged that DCG is $2 billion in debt and struggling to raise the new funds needed to stay afloat.

According to Forbes, Silberts’ 40% stake in DCG is worth next to nothing unless his crypto empire survives its current predicament.

Binance CEO Assessment Plunges

Meanwhile, the man who has seen his net worth drop the most is Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao. Forbes valued it at $65 billion earlier this year. But he is now only worth $4.5 billion, which is still enough to make him the richest crypto billionaire.

The decline in his net worth is due to many reasons, including the failure of projects in which Binance has invested, such as Terra Luna and FTX. Binance and CZ are also coming under increased scrutiny as customers and regulators question their financial health.

There are also allegations that the exchange could have facilitated financial crimes. With CZ holding a 70% stake in Binance, the fragile health of the exchange has affected his net worth.

Other exchange founders, such as the Winklevoss twins and the founders of Coinbase, have also seen their net worth drop significantly.

Crypto investors who are no longer billionaires include Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau of Alchemy and Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah of OpenSea. Others include Michael Saylor and Tim Draper who have invested heavily in Bitcoin.

Jed McCaleb is the only crypto-billionaire not significantly affected by market conditions this year. The Ripple co-founder’s net worth rose from $2.5 billion to $2.4 billion as he sold off most of his crypto holdings.

Disclaimer

BeInCrypto has reached out to a company or individual involved in the story for an official statement on recent developments, but has yet to receive a response.

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