5 – Matthew Mellon ($ 900 million to $ 1 billion)
Heir to a wealthy American family, he very early on invested $ 2 million in the cryptocurrency XRP developed by the banking start-up Ripple. He is 54 years old.
4 – Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss ($ 900 million to $ 1.1 billion)
Humiliated by Mark Zuckerberg during the creation of Facebook, the two twins then invested heavily in bitcoins at a time when few believed in it. They are now at the helm of Gemini, an exchange that records $ 300 million in transactions every day. They are 36 years old.
3 – Changpeng Zhao ($ 1.1 billion to $ 2 billion)
The only person in this ranking who was not born in North America, Hong Kong’s Changpeng Zhao founded Binance, one of the most traded trading platforms. He is 41 years old.
2 – Joseph Lubin (1 to 5 billion dollars)
This former top executive at Goldman Sachs designed the Ethereum blockchain with Vitalik Buterin. The Canadian then created Consensys, a global giant that advises companies wishing to develop in the blockchain sector. It includes Microsoft among its customers. He is 53 years old.
1 – Chris Larsen (7.5 to 8 billion dollars)
He is the boss of Ripple, one of the most prominent companies in the industry. It offers several solutions to improve interbank fund transfers. He has publicly stated that he owns 5.2 billion XRP, the cryptocurrency issued by Ripple. He also has a large stake in the company. He virtually became the 5th richest man in the world in early January during the XRP peak.
