Zhao has his fingers in a number of crypto pies, but he is best known for creating Binance
, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of the trading volume. He also launched his own cryptocurrency, Binance Coin, in 2021 on the Ethereum blockchain. Additionally, CZ, as he's known, helped in the development of Blockchain.info and served as CTO of OKCoin. The fact that he's an insider in the world of crypto may have a lot to do with his crypto fortune.
Nakamoto is a bit of a mystery. You see, he's the supposed creator of Bitcoin, but no one really knows for sure. Very little is known about him. He was allegedly born in Beppu, Japan in 1949 into a very poor family before he and his mother moved to California in 1959. Other than that, he's an enigma. In fact, it's not very clear whether he's still alive. Now that's an international man of mystery!
Whoever the creator of Bitcoin is, though, Nakamoto is certainly its wealthiest holder. He is estimated to be the owner of one million Bitcoin. Unfortunately for him (if he's still alive) he hasn't been able to sell any of his Bitcoin for fear it would reveal his true identity. Sound like the Howard Hughes of crypto!
One of the largest crypto exchanges, FTX
was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried in 2019. FTX raised $900 million from the likes of Coinbase Ventures and SoftBank in July 2021 an $18 billion valuation. That put Sam among the wealthiest people in the world – before turning 30! He's the son of two Stanford law professors and studied physics at MIT, so obviously he's got not only money but brains. A large percentage of his wealth, which he says he will eventually donate to charity based on a philosophy called “earning to give,” is tied up in the ownership of about half of FTX and a share of his FTT tokens. Nice to see the super-rich being so charitable!