The public blockchains has revolutionized the way we think about money. However, they have also opened the door to a whole new type of financial voyeurism.
Crypto-curious no longer have to pore over SEC documents or Forbes lists. They can now enjoy a snoop around on the blockchain.
It’s fortunate that there are many crypto billionaires. The majority are almost anonymous. They’re only identified by their pseudonymous Blockchain addresses.
A select few crypto-moguls, on the other hand, are willing to show their entire portfolios, with all of its flaws.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum
Buterin was crowned the world’s youngest crypto billionaire by Forbes in 2021 — when ether (ETH) cleared $3,000 for the first time. On-chain data can’t verify the ‘youngest crypto billionaire’ moniker, but it does seem to corroborate those numbers.
Arkham Intelligence estimated Buterin’s portfolio to be worth $2 billion by May 2021. ETH was the majority of these holdings, which is not surprising. Buterin’s value was much higher than this, during the throes dog coin mania.
In the past, dog coin enthusiasts and issues have flooded Buterin’s Ethereum addresses in huge amounts of tokens that are illiquid. It’s a form of guerilla marketing — aiming to trick chain watchers into believing Buterin was deep in their useless memecoins.
And so, on May 12, 2021, Buterin’s crypto portfolio was worth more than $20.5 billion – which would have put him on par with the likes of Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio and Google’s Eric Schmidt.
Shiba Inu coins (SHIB), which accounted for $17,8 billion (87%), were also included in the funds. Other dog-coins such as AKITA or HUSKY are also present. Buterin then donated the remaining coins to India’s Covid Relief Fund.
Buterin now holds about $484 million in crypto in his known addresses — practically all of it ETH. Arkham Intelligence reports that Buterin sent over $74 million worth of on-chain assets, such as Coinbase and Kraken, to exchanges in the past.
Jed McCaleb, co-founder of Ripple
McCaleb’s Crypto billions was distributed across a nearly decade-long period.
Ripple sent an unending stream of the infamous XRP cryptocurrency to McCaleb until last year. “tacostand” He then sold the address on public markets.
Ripple had initially expressed concern over McCaleb’s eagerness to dispose of his reward as a founder, 9 billion total XRP, worth $54million when the case settled. $4.2billion today.
In the agreement, McCaleb was required to pay a fixed amount of XRP each year. The amounts ranged from 10,000 XRP every week starting in 2015 up until 2020 when they would be able to receive 2 billion XRP (844 million dollars) per year.
McCaleb’s ‘tacostand’ now holds zero XRP, having received the last tranche of payouts in mid-2022.
Whale Alert, an independent chain watcher, estimated McCaleb sold $3.1 billion worth of XRP in eight years. McCaleb was selling XRP at an average of $0.55 per token or 19% more than its current value.
Forbes has estimated McCaleb’s worth as $2.4 Billion, after he founded Stellar, a rival blockchain platform.
TRON creator Justin Sun
At the peak of his crypto portfolio in September 2021, His (former-) Excellency had $6.3 billion.
This figure would have placed Sun among the 500 richest people in the world along with Lululemon’s Chip Wilson, and Viking Global founder Andreas Halvorsen.
Sun is a man of degeneracy. His portfolio on its all-time highest point supports this.
About 95% of his portfolio was locked inside lending protocols Aave and Curve, earning yield, as markets closed in on their record highs — including 2.63 billion USDC, 478250 WETH ($1.86 billion) and 11,000 BTC ($545 million).
- Sun Crypto’s portfolio today is valued at $858 Million.
- Sun stablecoin USDD, with $160 Million, is the second largest staked cryptocurrency.
- Also, he holds 6,802 MKR (4.97 million dollars) and 23,724 ETH (46.76 millions).
Sun is a very prolific trader. Over the years he has transferred $22.6 billion of cryptocurrency to various exchanges, and more than half went to Binance.
Satoshi Nakamoto, and many others
Bitcoin’s mysteriously-absent creator was believed to have mined anything between 600,000 BTC (about 16.75 billion USD) and 1.1million BTC (300.7 billion USD) during the early years.
Since the bitcoins were spread over hundreds of different addresses, it is very difficult to trace them directly.
Nakamoto, if the estimate of the highest value is correct, would be just behind Chanel Chairman Alain Wertheimer in ranking among the 50 richest people in the world.
The infamous “1Feex” Address is yet another prominent on-chain billionaire. The address has been in existence since Mar. Since Mar.
It’s believed someone connected to the monumental heist has access to ‘1Feex,’ although claiming the BTC would no doubt bring a certain amount of unwanted heat.
It didn’t prevent self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright (unsuccessfully), from claiming ownership during one of his legal cases last year.
A dozen Bitcoin address do not belong to any crypto-exchanges, or anyone else. Etherscan reports that no Ethereum address without attribution contains $1 billion or higher ETH at the moment.
Coinbase’s CEO, and off-chain Billionaires
Special mention should be made of crypto billionaires who have accumulated most of their wealth outside the blockchain.
Arkham Intelligence shows that Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s co-founder, and CEO, holds approximately $590,000. This is almost entirely ETH.
Armstrong’s portfolio, which consisted primarily of DYDX (the native token of the decentralized exchange with the same name), was valued at $1.23million when it reached its highest point in February. Forbes values Armstrong’s present net worth as $2.5 billion.
Mark Cuban is the Dallas Mavericks’ owner, and an avid crypto supporter. He has about $4 Million. USDC accounts for more than half of the total, with STETH and wrapped Ethereum following closely behind.
Aave held 86% USDC, which was about $7.16m at its peak in August. ETH, ApeCoin(APE), ENS, and Rarible, (RARI), among other cryptocurrencies, made up most of the rest. Forbes estimated Cuban’s total net worth to be $5.1 billion.
The featured names could very well be crypto millionaires with unknown holdings.
It is clear, however, that a few prominent individuals have put crypto to the test.
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