People who made their fortunes on the creation of crypto-currency start-ups are sometimes blamed for simply being in the right place at the right time, and that they were just lucky. However, few people know that most of the "crypto-currency billionaires", as they are now fashionable to call, have a rich prehistory associated with business activities, participation in interesting projects. To perceive people who have grown rich on crypto-currencies, it is possible and necessary not only as owners of large sums that have fallen into the ratings of Forbes, because they change our world for the better, creating innovative products that in 5-10 years can change the world beyond recognition.
Therefore today we will talk about the richest and most successful people representing the world of crypto-currencies.
- Chris Larsen
The New York Times once reported that Chris Larsen was among the five richest people on the planet, ahead of the famous Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Of course, he did not last long in the top, because he took a place in it only thanks to the rapid growth of the course of the crypto currency he created - Ripple (XRP), which then fell in price, making Larsen "poorer".
The path of Chris Larsen to wealth can not be called simple and straightforward. Larsen worked as an auditor at various times, engaged in the mortgage business, p2p-lending (he was inspired by Vietnamese people living in the US who gathered and lent money for the opening of his business to a Vietnamese family from which Larsen's wife , who told him this story later), as well as a project for instant money transfer (from which, incidentally, Ripple Labs grew up).
The company Ripple Labs, which as a result founded Larsen, holds most of the released XRP tokens (more than half). By the way, Forbes placed it in the first place in its ranking of people who got rich on the crypto currency, precisely because of the value of its 17% stake in the company. Then his fortune was estimated at 7-8 billion dollars, now due to the fall in the rate of all the crypto currency, he has more than 4 billion dollars.
Start-up Larsen was extremely successful. According to Business Insider, XRP was the fastest growing currency in 2017.
- Joseph Lubin
Joseph Lubin is not as rich as Larsen, but he boasts, at the very least, control over assets of $ 1 billion dollars. Lubin is the co-founder of one of the most famous crypto-currencies - Ethereum. He also established his own developer, specializing in blocking technologies, Consensys (yes, it is through "y").
Before becoming a successful crypto business, Joseph already worked in senior management positions in the financial sector - for example, he was the executive director of Goldman Sachs. Consensys, whose main office is in New York, he created in 2015. The company is engaged in the creation of decentralized applications for Ethereum. In particular, they developed a platform for monetizing video content called SingularDTV, which raised more than $ 7 million on the ICO. Consensys also worked to create a service for the trade of music Ujo Music, and BTC Relay (this project is a "bridge" that combines Ethereum-networks with applications for battle bitcoin).
- Changpeng Zhao
How not to mention Changpeng Zhao, the creator of the famous Binance exchange? Currently, his fortune is about 1.5-2 billion dollars.
Jao did not limit himself to the role of the founder of the stock exchange, he is now its CEO and continues to work actively to promote and improve the platform, which, incidentally, gained popularity and became the largest trading platform for crypto-currencies in just six months from the moment of starting work!
The businessman started working on Binance from scratch - he already had experience working with leading Asian and American crypto-currency start-ups and financial companies: he was the co-founder of Fusion Systems, the head of IT department of Bloomberg Tradebook Futures, the creator and director of BijieTech, dealing with cloud technologies . Also, it should be noted his work on OKCoin - a trading platform, intended for exchange between the Fiat and popular crypto-currencies.
Changpeng Zhao can be called a man of several cultures, because he studied in Canada, and during his career he managed to work in various parts of the world - in North America, Japan, Hong Kong and, of course, in China.
Now the billionaire states that he is "immobilized in the industry of crypto-currency for all two hundred percent."
- Cameron and Tyler Winklewossy
The history of these entrepreneurs is doubly interesting thanks to several details. Possessing the state of the order of 0.9-1.1 billion dollars for two, they managed to win prestigious sports awards, to sue Mark Zuckerberg, the first to earn a billion dollars on the crypto-currency in their short life (and they are 36 years old). I wonder what awaits them next?
Their father was Dr. Howard Winklewoss, who taught at the Wharton Business School. In addition, he was the owner of his own company. It is clear where the guys got interest in the economy and business!
In the 2000s, they were Harvard students, where they studied economics, but one of their main interests was ... sports, namely rowing! In 2007, the brothers even represented the United States at the Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro, where they won gold in the eight with the helmsman. They had other awards and achievements. Of the most notable - the entry into the final stage of the competition of dyads in rowing at the Beijing Olympics.
It would seem that the road to the big sport is laid, and it remains only to reap the benefits. However, the brothers decided that they would not be full of sports, and went into business. Since 2002, they have developed a social network for students called HarvardConnection, and in 2003 they became employers of Mark Zuckerberg, who was rumored to have used their experience to create Facebook. The result was a lawsuit between the brothers and Zuckerberg, which ended in a closed judicial agreement. According to some sources, Zuckerberg could pay Cameron and Tyler about $ 65 million in compensation (at least, this was the sum that the lawyer's office, representing the Winklewoss brothers for a while, voiced).
- Matthew Mellon
Mentioned also deserves Matthew Mellon, who earned a crypto currency of about a billion dollars. It can not be said that he is among the lucky ones who pulled themselves out of poverty and obscurity by incredible effort and labor. Mellon is the heir of Thomas Mellon, the founder of Mellon Bank. Accordingly, he did not need money from the very beginning. He served as chairman of the Finance Committee of the New York branch of the Republican Party. Despite his status, in a certain period of his life he struggled with drug addiction (and probably still struggles), which caused many problems in his personal life (he survived two divorces).
Nevertheless, Mellon decided to deal with trading crypto-currency. His family decided that this idea was caused by the general unhealthy state of Matthew, but he stood on his own, investing funds first in bitcoin, and then - in Ripple. Spending an investment of $ 2 million, he made a profit of about $ 1 billion due to the increase in the cost of the XRP-token.
Is Matthew Mellon an ideal role model? Hardly. Few can afford to lead a similar way of life, while investing in crypto-currencies. However, it is impossible not to give him credit in the sense that he was able to see the potential in Ripple long before he "shot." Since he is in the top rating of Forbes, we decided to tell about this man with a difficult fate. I want to believe that he will overcome his problems and will please us with competent solutions in the field of trading.
This article could contain many other names. For example, the famous Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, is among the top 15 most well-off crypto entrepreneurs. However, the volume of the article is limited, so we mentioned only the richest of them.