Forbes’ 2020 list of global billionaires, which names Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world’s wealthiest person, includes five cryptocurrency pioneers with ties to Bitcoin (BTC) and the digital assets industry: Bitmain founders Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong and Square Crypto founder Jack Dorsey.
Zhan is the wealthiest crypto entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion. He was ousted from Bitmain, the largest maker of cryptocurrency-mining computers, in October of 2019, but remains the largest shareholder of the company.
Chris Larsen is the second wealthiest crypto entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion. He sits as executive chairman of global payments network Ripple. He also co-founded the online mortgage lender e-Loan and peer-to-peer lender Prosper.
Wu is the chairman of Bitmain and owns 20% of the company. In 2019, he co-founded crypto financial services startup Matrixport. His estimated net worth is $1.8 billion.
Armstrong is the chief executive of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. His personal worth has reached an estimated $1 billion.
Dorsey co-founded Twitter and Square. With an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion, he launched Square Crypto last year, transforming Square and its popular Cash App by facilitating sales of Bitcoin, which he believes can become the internet’s native currency.
Although Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is not included on the Forbes list, he ranks number one among crypto billionaires in the Hurun Global Rich List 2020 released earlier this year.
Trailing Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos, the top Forbes 2020 billionaires are Microsoft founder Bill Gates, luxury goods titan Bernard Arnault, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
In ninth place, Walmart heiress Alice Walton is the world’s richest woman and the only female billionaire in the top 10, with an estimated net work of $54.4 billion. At age 22, Kylie Jenner tops the list of the world’s youngest billionaires with an estimated net worth of $1 billion.
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