The market crash of 2022 has been one of the worst for the crypto industry. Not only did prices of all major currencies dive, but prominent firms such as Terraform Labs, Three Arrows Capital, and FTX went underwater. Not to mention the loss to retail customers, many of whom lost their life savings. Along with retail customers, high-net-worth individuals also took a hit.
With that said, let’s take a look at…
Billionaires who lost lost big in crypto
Changpeng Zhao (CZ):
The founder and CEO of Binance is the biggest loser in the crypto crash of 2022. CZ’s net worth has shrunk by a whopping $82 billion. Last year, CZ reportedly was worth $96.5 billion, and his current net worth is around $14.6 billion. CZ’s diminishing net worth is attributed to the falling price of crypto. CZ has stated that he only keeps cryptocurrencies and uses fiat as little as possible. However, CZ’s net worth should see another ascent when the markets go up again.
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF):
FTX founder, SBF, making the list of biggest losers in crypto is no surprise. The 30-year-old lost around $23 billion of personal wealth within a few days. However, unlike CZ, SBF did not lose his wealth due to the falling prices of cryptocurrencies but due to his exchange playing around with customer funds. Nonetheless, SBF was recently arrested on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States of America.
Brian Armstrong:
The co-founder and CEO of Coinbase is the third-biggest loser in this year’s crypto crash. Armstrong’s wealth has shrunk by $4.7 billion. His current net worth is around $1.9 billion, down from an estimated $6.6 billion one year ago. Additionally, Armstrong is a former Airbnb software developer.
Gary Wang:
Gary Wang, a co-founder of FTX, lost almost US$1.7 billion because of the cryptocurrency exchange’s failure. Moreover, in 2022, he was the youngest person featured on Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest people. According to the article, his current net worth is $4.2 billion.
Chris Larsen:
Despite continuing to rank among the top six richest crypto investors, according to Crypto Vantage, Larsen’s worth fell by US$1.3 billion in 2022. Just a few months ago, the co-founder of Ripple was valued at US$4.3 billion. However, his current net worth is estimated to be $3 billion.