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- The U.S., China, and Canada had the largest number of citizens among ultra-rich crypto investors in 2022.
- The data taken before the crypto crash shows the crypto markets potential to create wealth and solve global financial problems.
The cryptocurrency industry has produced a barrage of ultra-rich investors despite the price crash in 2022. New data indicates that the U.S., China, and Canada have the highest concentration of these crypto-wealth creators.
A new crypto watch list put together by Security.org shows that 55% of the top 40 richest crypto investors in the world live in the U.S. China is home to 10% of the investors while Canada accounts for another 7.5%.
The study cites data from Forbes’ annual list of the richest billionaires and Entrepreneurs magazine’s list of richest crypto investors. These lists were put together before the crypto market crash of 2022, but it is still telling of the amount of wealth to be gained from the crypto market.
Per the data, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the disgraced founder and former CEO of FTX, ranked as the richest crypto investor in 2022. SBF’s estimated net worth reached $20.9 billion earlier this year. However, it is currently unknown as his exchange filed for bankruptcy last month.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator(s) of Bitcoin (BTC), ranks second on the watchlist. The Bitcoins identified to belong to Nakamoto are worth over $20.5 billion, making the unknown individual(s) one of the richest crypto investors in the world.
Clocking in third is the CEO and co-founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ). The 44-year-old Canadian citizen has an estimated net worth of $17.4 billion earned from being a major shareholder in the largest crypto exchange in the world.
Micree Zhan, the head Designer for the AntMiner series of mining PCs, Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, and co-creator of Upbit exchange Song Chi-hyung came 4th, 5th, and 6th in the list. While Gemini exchange founders the Winklevoss Twins, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong round up the top ten.
Will 2023 see the emergence of more crypto billionaires?
Other impressive stats include that the average age of these ultra-rich crypto investors is 44 years old. At 28, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, emerged as the youngest crypto billionaire.
Meanwhile, the only female member of the cohort is Blythe Masters. The former CEO of Digital Asset Holdings, has an estimated net worth of $500 million.
The stats point to the massive opportunity present in the crypto market. According to Security.org, many of the members of the list earned their crypto wealth by creating products that solve problems for millions of people globally.
This lives in keeping with the crypto industry’s ethos of decentralizing the global financial sectors. Despite the volatility the cryptocurrencies face heading into 2023, the market could still pull surprises for investors.
