--- title: Meet the Only 2 People in the World Who Have Become Billionaires Off Cryptocurrency description: On Forbes most recent list of world billionaires, two have become rich off cryptocurrency. Here's what you need to know about them. authors: - name: Paul Schrodt url: https://money.com/author/paul-schrodt/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 157 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Health and Wellness - Housing - Insurance - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Technology former_staff: true published: '2018-03-15T18:00:41.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T10:09:02.000Z' section: Investing tags: - Cryptocurrency word_count: 573 canonical: https://money.com/cryptocurrency-billionaires/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![180315-bitcoin-rich](https://img.money.com/2018/03/180315-bitcoin-rich.jpg) *(left) Chris Larsen, chief executive of Ripple Labs, that makes a math-based currency, at company headquarters in San Francisco, Nov. 1, 2013. (right) Zhao Changpeng, chief executive officer of Binance, poses for a photograph following a Bloomberg Television interview in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018.* Cryptocurrency has two kingpins. *Forbes*’ 2018 [ranking](https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/) of the world’s billionaires includes only a couple people who accumulated their vast fortunes from digital assets: Chris Larsen and Changpeng Zhao. While Bitcoin typically dominates the press around cryptocurrencies, neither Larsen nor Zhao directly earned their billions from it. They’re instead deeply involved businessmen who are part of the larger, rapidly expanding ecosystem of cryptocurrency, helping to drive the coins into the future. Meanwhile, they’re proving that there’s more than simply a lot of money to be had in this still confusing world. ## The tech veteran turned crypto-king Chris Larsen, a 57-year-old American, is a veteran of the country’s tech industry. The co-founder and former CEO of [Ripple](https://ripple.com), a cryptocurrency and payment network intended for global transactions, [previously served](https://money.com/ripple-chris-larsen-cryptocurrency/) as CEO and co-founder of Prosper, a peer-to-peer lending marketplace, and Eloan, an online platform for lending. Ripple counts major banks among its clients, including Bank of America and UBS, and has more direct control over its currency than Bitcoin, whose founder remains anonymous. Ripple’s token, XRP, had an unprecedented rise over the winter that made Larsen almost overnight one of the richest people around the globe. His net worth briefly [skyrocketed](https://money.com/ripple-chris-larsen-cryptocurrency/) to about $60 billion. But the coin [steeply dropped](https://money.com/ripple-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-crash/), and, based on *Forbes*’ reporting, Larsen will have to settle for a worth of $4.6 billion at the moment, putting him at No. 456 on the magazine’s list. The current executive chairman of Ripple, Larsen [reportedly](https://money.com/ripple-chris-larsen-cryptocurrency/) holds 5.19 billion XRP as well as a 17% stake in his company. Larsen, who [wrote](https://www.wsj.com/articles/meet-the-real-bank-of-mom-and-dad-1464878524) a *Wall Street Journal* op-ed arguing that banks should be seen as parent-like figures to their customers, has deep connections to finance that have no doubt helped propel Ripple. ## A Chinese-Canadian ace coder That also happens to be true of Changpeng Zhao, aka CZ, 41, CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange [Binance](https://www.binance.com/), which is on a remarkable hot streak. It became the largest exchange of its type on earth in under 180 days. Zhao, a Chinese-Canadian, started his career as a coder working on trading systems for the Tokyo Stock Exchange and, later, at Bloomberg’s Tradebook, developing software for futures trading. Having spent time in Tokyo and New York City, Zhao moved to Shanghai and started Fusion Systems, specializing in high-frequency tech for brokers. He found his calling in 2013 when he heard about Bitcoin. But it was only last year that he [launched](https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamelaambler/2018/02/07/changpeng-zhao-binance-exchange-crypto-cryptocurrency/#2c7e99761eee) Binance, along with raising $15 million for its BNB token. What separates Binance from competitors is its furious speed. The digital exchange can process 1.4 million transactions *per second*, for which it has attracted millions of users. "No decentralized exchange today can handle our volume, and none are as secure as we are," said Zhao, who studied computer science at Canada’s McGill University and wears hoodies. While Binance trades various coins, its own BNB has been steadily climbing, with a market cap as of this writing of about [$1 billion](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/binance-coin/). The exchange has sweetened the deal by offering a 50% discount on trading fees for BNB. The company’s latest venture is creating a decentralized, public [blockchain](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-13/crypto-exchange-binance-launches-decentralized-trading-network)—software that supports cryptocurrencies—which is meant to shield against thieving hackers. Zhao’s large stake in Binance and his stockpile of coins have moved him up the moguls’ list in short order. With an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion, his programming smarts and entrepreneurial spirit have made him one of a couple thousand of the richest people anywhere. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/cryptocurrency-billionaires/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Cryptocurrency", "item": "https://money.com/cryptocurrency/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Meet the Only 2 People in the World Who Have Become Billionaires Off Cryptocurrency" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/cryptocurrency-billionaires/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/cryptocurrency-billionaires/", "name": "Meet the Only 2 People in the World Who Have Become Billionaires Off Cryptocurrency", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2018-03-15T18:00:41.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/cryptocurrency-billionaires/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/cryptocurrency-billionaires/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T10:09:02.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Meet the Only 2 People in the World Who Have Become Billionaires Off Cryptocurrency", "articleSection": "Investing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2018/03/180315-bitcoin-rich.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 2000, "caption": "180315-bitcoin-rich" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paul Schrodt", "url": "https://money.com/author/paul-schrodt/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/paul-schrodt/#author" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2018-03-15T18:00:41.000Z", "description": "On Forbes most recent list of world billionaires, two have become rich off cryptocurrency. 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