Bitcoin crossed the $90,000 barrier this week for the first time in its history, benefiting from the re-election of Donald Trump for a second presidential term, which led to a significant boost in the gains of many investors and entrepreneurs in the digital currency sector.
According to Forbes estimates, the top 11 crypto billionaires, whose fortunes are largely made up of crypto assets and corporate stocks, will have a combined net worth of $38 billion in 2024.
The magazine pointed out that 63% of these gains, or about $24 billion, were achieved since last September, when optimism about Trump’s election victory began to boost the morale of participants in the cryptocurrency market.
The biggest beneficiaries of this upward trend were the leaders of listed companies whose shares are directly affected by Bitcoin’s movement, especially after Trump became a strong supporter of the digital currency following his defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 elections.
Michael Saylor, a board member at MicroStrategy, tops the list of cryptocurrency billionaires. His company is the world’s largest holder of bitcoin, with its holdings up 464% this year to $25.6 billion, while the price of bitcoin has risen 110% over the same period.
Thanks to these gains, Saylor's fortune jumped 291% to $8.8 billion in 2024.
In second place is Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, whose fortune has risen 123% to $5.9 billion, driven by a 150% rise in his company's stock this year.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s fortune was $7.6 billion at the start of the year, and has since risen 80% to $13.8 billion, making him the second-richest person in crypto. Most of the gains have come in the past two months alone.
Topping the list of absolute gainers was Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of Binance. His fortune rose 33%, or $15.8 billion, split between his $33 billion stake in the exchange and his holdings of the Binance token, which has surged 89% this year. Zhao’s total fortune now stands at $63.1 billion.
On the other hand, only two crypto billionaires have seen no increase in their wealth this year: Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb, co-founders of Ripple Labs.
