Forbes Magazine released the 2025 edition of its annual list of the world’s wealthiest individuals, and 14 Crypto billionaires made the cut.
The world’s most authoritative voice on wealth released its annual rich list yesterday, featuring 3,028 billionaires worldwide. The list includes interesting details like their various industries and newcomers. Fourteen individuals on the list represented the crypto industry. That’s not bad for a $2.74 trillion industry with insanely profitable companies like Tether.
The 14 Crypto Billionaires on the list emerged from different industry sectors, highlighting an even distribution of opportunities in the Cryptoverse. The sectors include Crypto Exchange founders, Investors and entrepreneurs, Crypto Corporate leaders, and Crypto firm founders.
Notable absentees from the list include Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX, currently serving a 25-year sentence, and Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, whose net worth collapsed after the TerraUSD crash.
The 14 Billionaires
The 14 billionaires who made the Forbes Rich List are all worth over $1 billion and work in various sectors.
The Tether Mafia
Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer in the world, is responsible for four out of the 14 individuals on the list. The stablecoin giants posted a monstrous $13 billion profit in 2024, making the country one of the most profitable in the world. Unsurprisingly, the firm’s high ranking executives featured on the rich list. They Include.
Giancarlo Devasini ($22.4 Billion)
Giancarlo Devasini is the chief financial officer (CFO) and Tether’s biggest shareholder of the largest crypto stablecoin issuer. The 60-year-old Italian is worth $22.4 billion and ranked number 90.
Paolo Ardoino ($9.5 Billion )
Paolo is Tether’s budding CEO and the driver of the company’s vision. He is worth $9.5 billion.
Jean-Louis van der Velde ($9.5 Billion)
JL van der Velde is the former CEO of crypto firm Tether and the CEO of its sister company, Bitfinex. He is worth $9.5 billion and is tied with Paolo Ardoino.
Stuart Hoegner ($4.2 billion )
Tether’s general counsel, with a 13% stake. Debuted in 2024 at $1.8 billion; Tether’s profits push him higher.
Crypto Exchange Founders
The second branch of the crypto industry, with representatives on the Forbes rich list, is the founder of crypto exchanges. This category featured two individuals.
Changpeng Zhao ( $62 Billion )
Changpeng Zhao, who goes by CZ, is the founder and former CEO of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. He is the richest in the industry and remains influential despite his brief incarceration. CZ owns 90% of Binance, the world’s largest exchange by trading volume and market share.
Brian Armstrong ($9.2 Billion )
Brian Armstrong is the chief executive of Coinbase Global, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. He owns a 16% stake in Coinbase, contributing to most of his wealth.
Investors
This category consists of individuals who invested in crypto companies or assets and have become billionaires. They were well represented on the Forbes 2025 list, ranging from solopreneurs to venture capital hawks.
Mike Novogratz ($2 billion)
CEO of Galaxy Digital, with a $2 billion stake and $500 million in BTC. Forbes hasn’t updated since 2022’s $2 billion; consistent per Decrypt 2024.
Tim Draper ($2.6 billion)
A scion of a Silicon Valley investing dynasty, Tim Draper is a founding partner of venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. He bought 29,656 BTC in 2014. Bitcoin’s rise nudges him up.
Founders and Entrepreneurs
The last category falls to entrepreneurs who started their crypto ventures and founders. This category had the highest number of individuals on the list, spanning diverse sectors of the industry.
Justin Sun ($8.5 billion)
Justin Sun, the brain behind the Tron Ecosystem, made the list. In addition to the Tron Blockchain, Justin owns exchanges Poloniex and HTX and peer-to-peer file-sharer BitTorrent. The Founder made the news last year when he bought a simple artwork of a banana and duct tape for millions of dollars.
Cameron Winklevoss ($3.2 billion )
Co-founder of Gemini, with 70,000 BTC shared with his twin. Gemini is making bold plans to launch an IPO, further increasing the potential net worth of the Winklevoss twins.
Tyler Winklevoss ($3.2 billion)
Tyler is the co-founder of Gemini and an early Bitcoin investor. He shares the same networth with his identical twin Cameron.
Chris Larsen $8.2 billion
Chris Larsen cofounded Ripple in 2012 to facilitate international payments for banks using blockchain technology.
The American crypto firm is the parent company of XRP. Ripple has cozzyed up to the Trump administration at the expense of Bitcoin, creating some backlash from the crypto community.
Jed McCaleb ($2.9 billion)
Ripple co-founder and Stellar CTO cashed out XRP over years. He launched three successful crypto firms.
Michael Saylor ($7.4 billion)
The Chairman of Strategy cut with a net worth of $7.4 billion. Saylor has become the loudest advocate for bitcoin adoption, rebranding his Business intelligence company Microstrategy to Strategy. The 60-year-old American believes Bitcoin can hit $1 million per coin, given its limited supply and strong demand in the global financial space.
The crypto industry is worth $2.74 trillion and has many promising years ahead. Overall, the figure of 14 Crypto billionaires in 2025 is encouraging.
Despite the recent slump in bullish factors, crypto assets like Bitcoin and Tether have achieved product market fit and are poised to drive more global adoption in the coming years.
