Bitcoin was launched in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, and since then, it has become the most popular and largest cryptocurrency by market cap. With the growth of the number one cryptocurrency, many people have made big bucks from it, becoming crypto millionaires.
In this article, let’s look at five people who have become billionaires thanks to Bitcoin and crypto.
1. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, AKA The Winklevoss Twins:
You might know the Winklevoss twins from their drama with the Facebook owner, Mark Zuckerberg, where they were settled for $65 million, but their wealth did not come from that alone. Their wealth can be attributed to lots of business ventures. On the one hand, they both founded an angel investment company that invests in startups and entrepreneurs, while on the other hand, they are crypto pioneers.
The Winklevoss twins are the owners of Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange and bought Nifty Gateways, an NFT platform.
2. Jeremy Gardner:
Gardner first bought Bitcoin in 2013 and decided to pursue the digital currency further by delving into it. Gardner founded The Blockchain Education Network, a nonprofit organisation which educates people about blockchain technology. He also launched a decentralised prediction market called Augur.
3. Michael Saylor:
Michael Saylor is the CEO of MicroStrategy Inc, a software firm. In August 2020, the firm acquired $250 million worth of Bitcoin, thus beginning his crypto journey. MicroStrategy inc now had $3.5 billion in Bitcoin by December 2021. Recorded in December 2021, the firm’s stock price had a massive boost of more than 337% following its announcement of the Bitcoin acquisition.
4. Changpeng Zhao (CZ):
He is the founder of Binance, a popular crypto exchange platform. The China-born Canadian began his crypto journey through a poker game with his friends. Afterwards, he invested heavily in crypto coins and sold his apartment in Shanghai for $1 million to purchase Bitcoin.
Starting in 2013, CZ worked for numerous crypto projects like Blockchain.info and was briefly the Chief Technology Officer of OKCoin.
After the launch of Binance in July 2017, the crypto exchange raised about $15 million, initially offering one coin; trading followed a few days later.
Barely eight months after its launch, Binance grew into the world’s largest crypto exchange platform by trading volume). In 2017, Binance Coin was launched. In addition to providing discounts on trading fees, Binance coin offers various benefits to its owners.
With an estimated net worth of $1.1-2 billion, in 2018, Forbes Magazine ranked him third on their list of “The Richest People In Cryptocurrency.”
5. Brian Armstrong:
He is the CEO of the popular cryptocurrency exchange platform, Coinbase. He was previously a software engineer at Airbnb but quit his job and founded the exchange with Fred Ehrsam in 2012.
While working in Airbnb, he noticed the difficulty of sending money to South America, so he explored crypto. It was in 2012 that he participated in the Y Combinator startup accelerator, receiving a $150,000 investment, which he used to fund the development of Coinbase.
At the closing trade on April 11, 2022, Coinbase had a total market capitalisation of $41.736 billion.
As of September 2022, Brian Armstrong has a net worth of $2.6 billion, according to a report by Forbes.
Read Also: Who is the Richest Bitcoin Trader in Nigeria?
Conclusion
With its launch in 2009, Bitcoin has grown so much and become a headway for many people. The popular digital coin has made lots of people millionaires. Whether it’s people who discovered it early enough or people who founded exchanges to trade cryptocurrency.
We all strive to make it big in the crypto space, and in the end, WAGMI.
