2022 has been a turbulent and eventful year for the cryptocurrency industry, marked by numerous high-profile bankruptcies, record-high scams, and tightened regulations around the globe.
Forbes estimates that since March 2022, 17 of the wealthiest founders, investors, and advocates of crypto have lost a total of $116 billion in personal wealth. While 10 of these crypto billionaires lost their billionaire status and 3 lost their entire fortune, 15 of these crypto moguls lost more than half of their wealth.
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is among the crypto leaders who lost big during the crypto winter. His 70% stake in the cryptocurrency exchange was valued at $65 billion in March, but it is now worth $4.5 billion.
#Binance CZ wealth dropped from $65 billion to $4.5 billion USD!
— CoinHub (@CoinHubCC) December 25, 2022
what about yours? 🧐 pic.twitter.com/XeBXp4KtFy
In February of this year, FTX CEO SBF was estimated to be worth 24 billion USD, making him the second-richest person in cryptocurrency after CZ. Now he is thought to have lost his entire fortune. SBF is currently being held in house arrest while awaiting trial on multiple counts of fraud.
FTX co-founder Gary Wang’s net worth was estimated earlier this year to be 5.9 billion USD, which is now worth around 1000 USD.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has a net worth of $1.5 billion, down from $6 billion in March, while the Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, co-founders of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini with net worths of $4 billion each in March, have seen their wealth plummet by 72.5% over the last three quarters.
Chris Larsen, the fifth-richest crypto personality, lost 51% of his personal wealth. Larsen’s net worth dropped from $4.3 billion in March to $1.2 billion in December.
According to Forbes, the $3.2 billion fortune of Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, was also lost as a result of the contagious wave caused by the collapse of FTX.
It all started in May with the demise of terraUSD, or UST, an algorithmic stablecoin that was supposed to be pegged one-to-one with the US dollar. A slew of bankruptcies followed the Terra-Luna debacle, beginning with Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Voyager Digital, and Celsius.
Then, in November, FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges run by Sam Bankman-Fried, went bankrupt, causing a ripple effect throughout the cryptocurrency industry.
Bitcoin has fallen roughly 75% since reaching an all-time high of nearly $69,000 in November 2021, and the total value of the cryptocurrency market has been reduced by more than $2 trillion.
