Cryptocurrency crash slims down billionaires' wealth: Report

Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, and Ether have both fallen more than 50 percent since their record highs late last year. Amidst this free-fall, what is noticeable is the biggest losses suffered among founders of exchanges, where traders buy and sell digital currencies.

According to a report in Bloomberg, Coinbase Global Inc. founder Brian Armstrong had a personal fortune of $13.7 billion as recently as November and about $8 billion at the end of March. That's now just $2.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Incidentally,Coinbase is the largest US cryptocurrency exchange.

Michael Novogratz, CEO of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital has seen his fortune plummet to $2.5 billion, from $8.5 billion in early November.

Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of closely held Binance, has lost an even larger fortune than Armstrong or Novogratz.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, co-founders of rival crypto exchange Gemini, have each lost about $2.2 billion -- or roughly 40 percent -- of their wealth this year.

Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of crypto exchange FTX, has had his fortune shaken up by half since the end of March to about $11.3 billion.

Crypto exchanges in the US appear to be suffering more of a downturn than their global competitors. Trading volumes at Coinbase have steadily fallen since the beginning of the year, while more internationally focused Binance saw an uptick in volume last month. Binance's US-focused business, by comparison, experienced even steeper declines than Coinbase's, the report said.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)

Published on: Thursday, May 12, 2022, 04:55 PM IST