Business Crypto Billionaire Fortunes Vanish as Quickly as They Were Made - Seven of the world’s richest crypto founders have lost a combined $114 billion since November as digital-asset values crumble.

By Tom Maloney
June 13, 2022, 9:33 PM UTC

One built a massive fortune that rivaled the wealthiest US tech titans. Another amassed a war chest that he vowed would change politics and philanthropy. Some were given a second chance at riches after past ventures flamed out.

The cryptocurrency craze turned Changpeng Zhao, Sam Bankman-Fried, Mike Novogratz and a handful of other digital-asset evangelists into billionaires several times over. But just as quickly as they became the new faces of global wealth, they’re now seeing their fortunes vanish at an astonishing rate.

Worth as much as $145 billion on Nov. 9, when Bitcoin reached a record high of almost $69,000, seven billionaires with fortunes tied to crypto have since lost a combined $114 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Many others who have bet big on Bitcoin, from Microstrategy Inc. Chief Executive Officer Michael Saylor to El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, are also feeling the pinch as the price of the world’s largest digital token slumped below $23,000 on Monday, the lowest since December 2020.

Crypto Crash​

Seven billionaires lost a combined $114 billion since November's crypto peak

Billionaire	9-Nov-21	13-Jun-22
Changpeng Zhao	$95.8B	$10.2B
Samuel Bankman-Fried	15.1B	8.9B
Brian Armstrong	13.7B	2.1B
Mike Novogratz	8.5B	2.1B
Fred Ehrsam	4.5B	2.1B
Tyler Winklevoss	3.8B	3.0B
Cameron Winklevoss	3.8B	3.0B

Source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index
Note: Changpeng Zhao was added to the index Jan. 7, 2022. The November figure reflects his initial valuation.

Once seen as ushering in a new era of decentralized finance, crypto has been rocked by two high-profile implosions in the span of weeks. Celsius, one of the largest crypto lending platforms, announced Sunday that it was freezing all transactions on its network following speculation it would be unable to meet returns promised on some of its products. That followed the collapse in May of so-called stablecoin TerraUSD and its sister token, Luna — which is memorialized as a tattoo on the left arm of Novogratz, the founder of Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd.

While global markets are in turmoil as the Federal Reserve and other central banks plan to aggressively raise interest rates to fight the highest inflation in decades, the speed at which crypto has plunged in recent weeks stands out. And while there’s little evidence of cracks so far in the broader US labor market, the losses in digital assets have led some crypto billionaires to resort to job cuts.

Zhao, founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said his firm has “a very healthy war chest” and is expanding hiring. Still, the 44-year-old has seen his personal fortune, once the world’s 11th-largest, tumble 89% to $10.2 billion since he debuted on the Bloomberg wealth index in January. His firm has also become a focal point for US investigators seeking to rein in the crypto industry.

Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old CEO of crypto trading platform FTX, is down 66% since his fortune peaked at $26 billion. That could dent his plans to give away his money and spend big in politics. He poured $16 million into super PACs in April, making him one of the top donors to outside groups, and has said he expects to give more than $100 million during the next presidential election to support Democrats.

Novogratz, 57, whose macro fund at Fortress Investment Group was liquidated in 2015 following two years of losses, has staked his comeback on crypto, recently calling Terra a “big idea that failed.” His fortune fell on Monday to $2.1 billion, lower than when he debuted on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in December 2020, when Bitcoin traded around $29,000.

Meanwhile, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss saw their fortunes sag to $3 billion each, from as high as $5.9 billion apiece. The 40-year-old twin founders of crypto exchange Gemini, which announced this month that it would cut about 10% of its workforce, are currently touring with their rock band, Mars Junction.
Coinbase Global Inc., the largest US crypto exchange, rescinded employment offers as crypto prices kept plunging. Founders Brian Armstrong, 39, and Fred Ehrsam, 34, once worth a combined $18.1 billion, have seen their fortunes shrink to $2.1 billion each as shares of the company have tumbled 79% since their initial public offering.

As for Saylor, 57, he’s keeping the faith: He tweeted “In Bitcoin We Trust” on Monday, along with a new picture of himself surrounded by lightning. Microstrategy, the software company he founded that plunged in value during the dot-com bubble in 2000, began buying Bitcoin in 2020. Its shares closed at a peak of $1,272 in February 2021, when the 2.36 million shares Saylor currently owns would have been worth $3 billion. They’ve since plummeted about 88%.

Bukele, El Salvador’s 40-year-old president, hadn’t tweeted about Monday’s plunge in crypto as of 4:45 p.m. in New York. About a week ago was the one-year anniversary of his push to make Bitcoin legal tender. At the time, it traded at about $36,000.

Source (Archive)

 

[Divine right to rule]

Imagine living in Ukraine and feeding yourself with crypto for over a year because that's the only way people can give you money.

Isn't Russia also looking into crypto to circumvent the sanctions? I think it is absolutely possible that resources will get traded in crypto in the future, a decentralized middleman between rival powers who don't want to trade with their rival's fiat.

 

[Kulee Baba]

Alt-coins is mostly pegged to the value of Bitcoin and Bitcoin goes through these cycles.

View attachment 3386617

It is routine that Bitcoin halves, goes way up because of sudden scarcity as miners are not keeping up with demand, and then plummets because it got over-valued. This is not even the hardest correction it has seen. but it was also still overvalued.

I expect that the price will start going back up once inflation kicks in because people are going to start looking for inflation resistant forms of finance.

The price of bitcoin is not necessarily the end-all-be-all of its usefulness. Developers are still developing crypto related projects. You know why? Because the core product, a way to transfer money without central authority, is going to be in demand forever.

I feel like I'm wasting my time even explaining this to A&H niggercattle. Mooing against your perceived enemies is more important than information and knowing what the fuck you're talking about.

Well I for one am enjoying your posts.

One thing I'm worried about for the future of cryptocurrencies is how shitcoins (LUNA LMAO) and shady companies like Celsius and Bitconnect could be potentially damaging the long term reputation of cryptocurrencies. Money is only as strong as what people believe it's worth and I think these fuck ups are in part responsible for Bitcoin's price drops.

Is this just an case of over worrying? Should we just accept obvious Ponzi schemes like OneCoin are going to pop up and screw people over?

 

[Male Idiot]

One big thing is the scams, but the high energy costs of mining are angering the watermelons.... I mean environmentalists, and the PC parts hike made gamers buttmad too.

Now gamers, nobody cares about us, but the eco commies are extremely powerful.

They torpedoed nuclear power. They may torpedo crypto too.

 

[Mega Man II Intro - GB]

One thing I'm worried about for the future of cryptocurrencies is how shitcoins (LUNA LMAO) and shady companies like Celsius and Bitconnect could be potentially damaging the long term reputation of cryptocurrencies.

If crypto was actually useful for the average person in a collapsing America it would sort itself out pretty quickly because nobody would be buying random coins for "will it go up? lol let's find out" purposes. They'd be buying coins to use as actual currency.

Of course at the same time the elites are killing the dollar they're also killing the plebs' access to energy so I'm not sure how we're supposed to use this digital currency in a collapse scenario. Silver makes much more sense as you don't have to explain what it is, you can hold it and trade it without electricity, and it's got thousands of years of precedent over both fiat and digital currency.

 

[God of Nothing]

surprised to see dear overlord coming in to educate the plebes so the rest of us crypto millionaires don't have to

For real though, if you think it's just crypto currency that's down right now, you're in for a rude fucking surprise in the coming years.

 

[Male Idiot]

surprised to see dear overlord coming in to educate the plebes so the rest of us crypto millionaires don't have to

For real though, if you think it's just crypto currency that's down right now, you're in for a rude fucking surprise in the coming years.

Everything will go down to save Zelenskyiyiy and The Great Sniffifier.

Eu is torpedoing its economy and we huns get the jews reeing at us for trying to get oil.

You will own nothing and be happy with it, you will have no other choice, goy.

 

[Sanshain]

Crypto has kept the site running for years. Stop being mad about proof-of-work and stop wishing for safe alternatives to government spyware money to die because you didn't make a million off it.

You're an edge-case. 99.99% of people in the world haven't made themselves utter pariahs from the system on purpose.

No business running on traditional currency can be both effective and a challenge to anything.

Brick and mortar businesses running on cash can be counter-culture but your reach is very small.
Any online business requiring digital fiat will be shut down if it's even a little risque. Ask any alt-tech business.

This is something that always gets me. Calling crypto a weapon of the counter-culture is hilariously dumb. Who provides the internet? The government. Who provides the power the internet and all of its related infrastructure runs on? The government. People who think their glorious counter-cultural revolutionary movement is sustained by crypto are no different from communists who all wear Che Guevara shirts bought from Walmart.

Actually it's even worse; at least the guys in those dumb shirts can at least use them to keep warm if they're ever declared pariahs of the state.

I get that crypto is useful in a lot of ways. But trying to argue that it somehow makes you 'independent' is like saying that stealing somebody else's credit card has made you 'independent' because they haven't noticed your theft and shut it down yet. You're still purposefully engaging with a system controlled by entities which can cut you off at any time.

When there is a free, independent internet that governments can't simply shut down at their whim, then you can say that there is a legitimate online counter-culture out there. But this ain't Pirate Radio. You're still riding Cuthulu's tentacles, the GM just hasn't remembered to tell you to roll a Sanity check yet.

Edit: Reading back through this thread I am terrified by the number of people who seem to think that Crypto is going to be their lifeline in a global economic collapse. Niggas, have you seen the energy market lately? What the hell are you going to do with your digital funny money when the power starts going out six times a day?

 

[God of Nothing]

Everything will go down to save Zelenskyiyiy and The Great Sniffifier.

Eu is torpedoing its economy and we huns get the jews reeing at us for trying to get oil.

You will own nothing and be happy with it, you will have no other choice, goy.

the only thing the establishment that wants this supposed reset is good at is turning everything to shit
they cannot create, only destroy

i hesitate to even say they can take when all they do is throw away

 

[Male Idiot]

the only thing the establishment that wants this supposed reset is good at is turning everything to shit
they cannot create, only destroy

i hesitate to even say they can take when all they do is throw away

Turning everything to shit for the people, but taking more money for (themselves) . A feature, not a bug. Goyim means servant.

 

[Null]

Who provides the internet? The government.

retard nigger.

Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Death of the Internet – Mad at the Internet

madattheinternet.com

imagine knowing so little but acting like you've got it all figured out.

The Internet exists despite the government and in spite of government efforts to censor and control it. The more involved it has gotten, the worse it has become.

edit: the more I dwell on your retard nigger post the angrier I get. The niggercattle unironically think every large, impressive technological accomplishment must be headed by some government agency like NASA and funded by taxpayer dollars. The exact opposite is true.

 

[God of Nothing]

Turning everything to shit for the people, but taking more money for (themselves) . A feature, not a bug. Goyim means servant.

oh, i know
same line of thinking as always and it always ends with a purge and expulsion

 

[Sanshain]

The Internet exists despite the government and in spite of government efforts to censor and control it. The more involved it has gotten, the worse it has become.

Answer me these very simple questions;

How many satellites are not owned by a government, or by companies without a direct affiliation by the government?

How many power stations are not owned by a government, or by companies without a direct affiliation to the government?

 

[The Ugly One]

You know how the government is unable to procure a decent warship because it's run by retards? Same retards are in charge of making sure people they don't like can't connect computers to a global network or obtain food.

 

[Null]

Answer me these very simple questions;

How many satellites are not owned by a government, or by companies without a direct affiliation by the government?

How many power stations are not owned by a government, or by companies without a direct affiliation to the government?

Almost every single one of them? The government licenses and regulates these industries, it does not run them. The more involved it is, generally speaking, the worse these industries operate.

Before the Government, there were multiple ISPs competing in every city. After the state and city governments started issuing monopoly charters, there is now usually one ISP per type of connection in every area with zero competition. That's why ISPs are consistently rated the worst companies in the country. A perfect example of how the government and the Internet are competing forces, not complementary and working hand in hand.

The Internet provides end-to-end encryption which prevents man-in-the-middle snooping at ISPs. This is now an industry standard. Not mandated by the government, but despite the government. Now the governments in the RU/EU/US want to criminalize end-to-end encryption and I believe CN/KP already do.

 

[CircuSphere]

Buy the dip?

Alt-coins is mostly pegged to the value of Bitcoin and Bitcoin goes through these cycles.

View attachment 3386617

It is routine that Bitcoin halves, goes way up because of sudden scarcity as miners are not keeping up with demand, and then plummets because it got over-valued. This is not even the hardest correction it has seen. but it was also still overvalued.

I expect that the price will start going back up once inflation kicks in because people are going to start looking for inflation resistant forms of finance.

The price of bitcoin is not necessarily the end-all-be-all of its usefulness. Developers are still developing crypto related projects. You know why? Because the core product, a way to transfer money without central authority, is going to be in demand forever.

I feel like I'm wasting my time even explaining this to A&H niggercattle. Mooing against your perceived enemies is more important than information and knowing what the fuck you're talking about.

I'm really tempted to buy the dip but it feels like multiple world governments have their scopes squarely aimed at crypto. It's dangerous to them and I don't know if it will be allowed to bounce back.

If I were to decide to dump a few K in what should I buy into Bitcoin, Etherium, both?

 

[Gig Bucking Fun]

I'm not "bitchy", I'm saying that you're retarded and biting the hand that feeds in more ways than one. You're unironically too stupid to see why crypto is important. You're the prime example of what I mean when I refer to people who are just not intelligent enough to sit down and figure out ways to mitigate our current situation.

Crypto can be a useful tool for challenging websites such as KF, but it’s still in its developmental stages. I mean, for fucks sake, the whole thing came crashing down cuz of a single retard daring randoms on Twitter to take down his coin. When there aren’t any logical failsafes and the whole thing collapses in on itself because of something so petty and stupid, it’s normal for people to be skeptic on the technology.

Will cryptocurrency get better? I think so. But as it stands right now, it is a system mostly propped up on faith. As soon as enough people stop believing, it causes a snowball effect that will death spiral any coin like we saw with Terra.

 

[Null]

I'm really tempted to buy the dip but it feels like multiple world governments have their scopes squarely aimed at crypto. It's dangerous to them and I don't know if it will be allowed to bounce back.

If you've got money burning a hole I'd suggest XMR instead of BTCore.

Crypto can be a useful tool for challenging websites such as KF, but it’s still in its developmental stages. I mean, for fucks sake, the whole thing came crashing down cuz of a single retard daring people to take down his coin. When there aren’t any logical failsafes and the whole thing collapses in on itself because of something so petty and stupid, it’s normal for people to be skeptic on the technology.

Will cryptocurrency get better? I think so. But as it stands right now, it is a system purely propped up on faith. As soon as enough people stop believing, it causes a snowball effect that will death spiral any coin.

Read my other posts about the cycle of the coin. It is $22,000 for something you are saying is worthless, broken, stupid, pointless, etc, etc, etc.

 

[Kyuruma]

Answer me these very simple questions;

How many satellites are not owned by a government, or by companies without a direct affiliation by the government?

How many power stations are not owned by a government, or by companies without a direct affiliation to the government?

Your argument is comparable to a eurofag saying "hurr the gubmint can just nuke you why do you need guns??". You're creating some hypothetical scenario where the government completely shuts everything down through force to support this argument that cryptocurrency doesn't severely inconvenience and elude them, which it does. Yes, in a total collapse scenario any kind of currency that is not precious metals, food, or fuel is utterly fucked. Thanks for stating the obvious friend.

 

[Equivocal_Iki]

Answer me these very simple questions;

How many satellites are not owned by a government, or by companies without a direct affiliation by the government?

How many power stations are not owned by a government, or by companies without a direct affiliation to the government?

Why is torrenting still a thing if they have so much control? Certainly they should've been able to crack down on that considering the powers that want it to not exist.

 

[Sanshain]

Almost every single one of them? The government licenses and regulates these industries, it does not run them. The more involved it is, generally speaking, the worse these industries operate.

Before the Government, there were multiple ISPs competing in every city. After the state and city governments started issuing monopoly charters, there is now usually one ISP per type of connection in every area with zero competition. That's why ISPs are consistently rated the worst companies in the country. A perfect example of how the government and the Internet are competing forces, not complementary and working hand in hand.

The Internet provides end-to-end encryption which prevents man-in-the-middle snooping at ISPs. This is now an industry standard. Not mandated by the government, but despite the government. Now the governments in the RU/EU/US want to criminalize end-to-end encryption and I believe CN/KP already do.

You're literally proving my own point for me. These groups are utterly powerless to prevent government interference. They will cave and have caved whenever directly confronted, because the government directly or indirectly owns them anyway. Every year, the internet grows more regulated, not less regulated.

My point is not that the government and internet companies work hand-in-hand all the time in one big happy family. My point is that ultimately, the government is in absolute control over the off-switch. We've seen it happen already in several countries; the internet simply being switched off when necessary.

Licensing and regulation are not protections against government interference. They are tacit agreements by these companies that they'll regulate themselves so the government can focus on more important things. They are not half-way meeting points, they are the equivalent of day-passes for criminals. The criminal is not 'free' just because he can visit the local shops without supervision. Their lives are still absolutely controlled, just by passive regulation instead of active oversight.

I brought up Pirate Radio for a reason previously. Pirate radio stations were, in extreme cases, genuinely independent. They were actually 'free' in every way that mattered. They could not be easily blocked or erased, and they possessed their own agency that was not at the mercy of an instant take-down. But they had their own independent infrastructure, literally building their own generators and broadcasting equipment.

If the internet was a means to true independence from the system, it would not be becoming more regulated. The internet and everything connected to it is fundamentally incapable of withstanding authoritarian intervention. You don't even own the tools needed to access it anymore, at least not unless you go to the absolute extreme fringes of the tech world. Everything you have can be taken away instantly, without your say-so. You're living proof of this fact. I don't understand why you still cling to the idea that you're somehow still free when you live at the utter mercy of systems you cannot control, and which actively fuck you over whenever you try and move beyond the infinitesimally tiny, powerless niche you've carved out in the sole of the boot stamping on your face.