The Richest People in Blockchain – Here Are the 6 Blockchain Billionaires | CoinCodex (coincodex.com)

Key highlights:


  • Hurun Report has published its latest Global Rich List, identifying 2,816 billionaires
  • Hurun found 6 individuals from the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry with a net worth of over $1 billion
  • With $2.6 billion, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is the richest person in crypto

The richest people in crypto and blockchain



Chinese media outlet Hurun Report has published the latest version of their Hurun Global Rich List. From the list of 2,816 in dividuals that Hurun has identified as having a net worth of over $1 billion, six come from the world of blockchain. Here’s the six crypto billionaires alongside with the estimate of their net worth provided by Hurun.

1. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao - $2.6 billion


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Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of the popular cryptocurrency exchange Binance, topped the charts of the richest people in blockchain by a rather comfortable margin. “CZ” was also at the very top of our list of the top 20 crypto influencers.
Despite only being launched in 2017, Binance is a dominant force in the cryptocurrency industry – its flagship Binance.com trading platform regularly posts daily trading volumes surpassing $1 billion, and the company has expanded its operations rapidly.Among other things, Binance has helped launch fiat-to-crypto exchanges tailored for specific jurisdictions (Binance USBinance SingaporeBinance Jersey and others), created their own blockchain platform (Binance Chain), and launched the Binance Futures crypto derivatives exchange.

2. Bitmain co-founder Micree Zhan Ketuan - $1.6 billion


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Alongside Jihan Wu, Micree Zhan Ketuan co-founded cryptocurrency mining firm Bitmain in 2013. Bitmain has established itself as the biggest player in the cryptocurrency mining industry, selling purpose-made cryptocurrency mining equipment and operating some of the biggest cryptocurrency mining pools in the world. Despite earning him massive wealth, Micree Zhan Ketuan’s career at Bitmain has had its fair share of twists and turns. According to reports, Zhan Ketuan has an ongoing feud with Jihan Wu, and was ousted as Bitmain’s legal representative in 2019. 

3. OKCoin founder Xu Mingxing - $1.4 billion


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Better known under the name Star Xu, Xu Mingxing is the founder of the OKCoin cryptocurrency exchange. He also serves as the CEO of OK Group. The company operates OKEx, which is one of the leading exchanges in the cryptocurrency industry.
While he is not often at the center of attention in the Western part of the cryptocurrency community, Xu is much better known among Asian crypto fans. 

4. Ripple executive chairman Chris Larsen - $1.3 billion


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Chris Larsen is the executive chairman and co-founder of United States-based fintech company Ripple. He co-founded the company in 2013 under the name Opencoin, but the company was later re-named to Ripple Labs. Ripple uses blockchain technology to improve the efficiency and speed of payments. The company has managed to attract over 300 banks and payments providers to its RippleNet network. The company has also created On-Demand Liquidity, a product that uses the XRP cryptocurrency to boost the efficiency of cross-border payments. A large portion of Chris Larsen’s net worth comes from his substantial XRP holdings. 

5. Huobi founder Leon Li - $1.1 billion



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Leon Li is the founder of the Huobi cryptocurrency exchange and the CEO of Huobi Group. He founded the exchange in 2013 and the exchange has become one of the biggest players in the industry, particularly in Asia. 
In addition to its exchange business, Huobi is also developing its own blockchain platform in partnership with Nervos. Huobi’s blockchain platform will be primarily geared towards applications in the finance industry. 

6. Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong - $1 billion


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Brian Armstrong co-founded Coinbase in 2012 and the company has since become the go-to fiat-to-crypto gateway for the Western market. Coinbase commands considerable influence in the cryptocurrency industry and offers a range of services including trading, institutional-grade cryptocurrency custody, OTC trading for institutional clients and a crypto payments processor for merchants. 
In addition to its consumer-facing cryptocurrency trading platform, Coinbase also operates a fully-featured cryptocurrency exchange called Coinbase Pro. The company’s suite products for institutional clients is called Coinbase Prime.


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    Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst These individuals show what passion, focus and belief in a new industry which disrupts and change the world day by day can bring. They are not rich by chance. And they bring with them open doors to anyone who also want to benefit, not just in terms of wealth but also on take an active part in one of the biggest social and economic change in history.