The CEO of the United States' largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, has topped the list of global industry billionaires by Cathay's Hurun Research Establish.

Issued on March two, the latest Hurun report provides a brief overview of the globe'due south richest, stating that the number of global billionaires has surged virtually l% to hit over three,000 people over the past five years. The report includes 17 "blockchain billionaires," or industry entrepreneurs who fabricated their fortune "mainly from cryptocurrency" as of Jan 2021.

According to the report, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is the earth'south biggest crypto billionaire, with his net worth surging 10-fold from $ane billion terminal yr.

Co-ordinate to Hurun's information, Armstrong now has an estimated wealth of $xi.5 billion alee of Coinbase'south imminent initial public offering. The company officially announced its IPO plans in Dec 2020 in a draft filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Committee.

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of Alameda Enquiry and FTX exchange, is ranked the 2d-richest blockchain billionaire, with a cyberspace worth evaluated at $10 billion. The executive is a new entrant in the Hurun list, post-obit the massive growth of FTX in 2020.

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the world's largest crypto substitution Binance, is ranked the third, with total wealth estimated at $8 billion, up more than 200% from last year. In 2020, Zhao was featured every bit the richest crypto billionaire in the Hurun list, overtaking Bitmain's co-founder Micree Zhan Ketuan.

The Hurun'south new blockchain billionaires list includes a number of major industry players like Ripple co-founders Chris Larsen, Stellar co-founder Jed McCaleb, Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert, the Winklevoss brothers, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, and others. The listing features a total of 11 new entrants in the list including major industry investor Tim Draper and Milky way Digital founder and CEO Michael Novogratz.

Source: Hurun