After the market experienced a trillion-dollar crypto crash in 2022, it was a challenging year financially for cryptocurrency billionaires. Numerous lawsuits have been filed by aggrieved investors seeking compensation for their losses.
Meanwhile, the most prominent crypto billionaire have together suffered a combined loss of $112.7 billion only in one year. Finbold has identified the five most prominent names in the cryptocurrency sector, together with their total net losses, according to the findings of Statista as of December 1, 2022.
Notably, the founder and CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), was the crypto billionaire who sustained the largest net losses following the crypto crisis of 2022, with a net worth drop amounting to $82 billion. After Zhao came FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who reportedly lost $23 billion in just three weeks before his arrest on charges of conspiracy and fraud in late 2022.
Elsewhere, the chief executive and co-founder of Coinbase suffered the third most significant loss among the top five crypto titans with $4.7 billion. Meanwhile, the co-founder of FTX, Gary Wang, and the co-founder of Ripple, Chris Larsen, lost $1.7 billion, and $1.3 billion, respectively.
The five wealthiest crypto leaders remain unchanged
It is important to note that the same five crypto leaders who lost the most money in 2022 were among the top five richest persons in crypto before the market’s collapse.
Interestingly, with a current net worth of $14.6 billion, Zhao holds the title of the wealthiest individual in the cryptocurrency industry. Last year, it was reported that he had a net worth of $96.5 billion.
On December 12, 2022, Bankman-Fried was taken into custody in the Bahamas on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States of America. FTX, which had been the fourth biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world at one point, filed a bankruptcy petition in November 2022 due to liquidity difficulty.
This occurred when it attempted to sell a significant portion of its operating company to its competitor Binance; however, Binance ultimately decided to back out of the transaction, citing that it was outside the scope of its capabilities to assist FTX in resolving its problems.
Following revelations that the former FTX head had transferred client assets to his Alameda Research hedge fund, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused Bankman-Fried of devising a plan to fraud investors.
The SEC’s accusations come in the wake of the allegations. Bankman-Fried has denied any misconduct, including claims that he was aware of Alameda Research utilizing FTX client money. Bankman-Fried has also denied that he was involved in any illegal activity.
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