Today, we are here to present you with a carefully selected list of the biggest people in crypto 2024.
Bitcoin (BTC) was created by an anonymous fellow, Satoshi Nakamoto, in 2009. Since then, Bitcoin has experienced a stratospheric rise that created a diverse and surprising set of big and influential people from various sectors – government, finance, music, computing, FinTech, education, fashion, etc. – all over the world.
In turn, these big people have also contributed to the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin and other altcoins. The efforts of these big personalities have collectively underscored the decentralized nature of digital assets, a phenomenon that sets cryptos apart from fiat.
Top crypto people include policy leaders, developers, financial leaders, celebrities, educators, tech gurus, and enthusiasts who have played a unique role in the crypto community by contributing immensely to the crypto ecosystem.
Now, let us meet the 12 biggest people in crypto 2024.
Top List Of The 12 Biggest People In Crypto 2024
The following is a list of the 12 biggest people in crypto 2024 – according to public knowledge. Some of them became big because they are just so influential; some created exchanges for trading cryptos and/or their derivatives, while some created products to grow the crypto ecosystem.
Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao
Changpeng Zhao, popularly referred to as CZ, is a software developer who became big by creating a cryptocurrency exchange in 2017. He is the founder of Binance exchange, the ‘current’ largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume in the world.
He was the CEO of the exchange until November 2023, when Richard Tend came on board as the new CEO of the exchange.
As of today, CZ is the biggest and most famous person in the crypto industry. He has over 9M combined followers on both X and Instagram.
He is worth over $57B, making him the fiftieth wealthiest person in the world. Most of his wealth comes from his stake in Binance.
Interestingly, CZ migrated from China to Canada when he was 13, stumbled upon BTC through a poker game, and then, in 2014, he sold his apartment to invest heavily in crypto.
Today, CZ’s Binance offers more cryptocurrencies and crypto-derivatives than any exchange and is bigger than its main rival, Coinbase.
Vitalik Buterin
Vitalik Buterin comes next in our list of the biggest people in crypto 2024. He co-founded Bitcoin Magazine and Ethereum (ETH) with four other persons in 2015 and today, Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap after Bitcoin.
He has a combined 7.7M followers on social media, with 2.7M followers on Instagram.
Vitalik Buterin was born in Kolomna, Russia in 1994 but migrated to Canada at age 6. His father, Dmitry Buterin, taught him about Bitcoin when he was 17.
He co-founded Bitcoin Magazine in 2011 and became its lead writer. With this exposure, he was able to create Ethereum, a more programmable blockchain than Bitcoin, in 2015.
Currently, Vitalik is worth over $1B, with the bulk of his wealth coming from his Ethereum holdings.
Brian Armstrong
The next top crypto personality on our list is Brian Armstrong, the co-founder of Coinbase. In 2012, Brian, together with Fred Ehrsam, founded Coinbase, the biggest crypto exchange by trading volume in North America.
According to Brian, he launched Coinbase as an open financial system that drives innovation and freedom.
Prior to launching Coinbase, Brian was Airbnb’s software engineer, a job he later quit to focus on Coinbase. Reports hold that Brian has a 19% stake in Coinbase, which is worth about $12B, according to Forbes.
Brian also co-founded GiveCrypto, a platform that encourages crypto donations to less privileged people.
Michael Saylor
Micahel Saylor is a big name in Bitcoin due to his zeal and enthusiasm. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of MicroStrategy Inc., a company that has been acquiring Bitcoin since August 2020.
Currently, the company has purchased over 210,000 Bitcoin tokens, claiming that Bitcoin is a safer store of value than gold and bonds.
Saylor is not only influential but also a fierce supporter and advocate of Bitcoin. He has appeared at different news and crypto conferences to talk about Bitcoin’s importance, benefits, and use cases.
His unwavering support and advocacy for Bitcoin have influenced several other individuals and firms to consider adding Bitcoin as part of their financial strategy.
According to Forbes, Saylor’s net worth is estimated to be $4.4B. Most of his wealth comes from his bet on Bitcoin.
Chris Larsen
Chris Larsen is one of the biggest people in crypto 2024, being one of the world’s top 13 richest cryptocurrency traders.
He is the co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple and has been an active player in the crypto industry.
How did Chris become big? Chris co-founded Ripple (then OpenCoin) in 2012 and served as Ripple CEO until December 2016, when he stepped down.
However, he continued as Ripple’s executive chairman. His stake in the company is 5.19B XRP, giving him a 17% share in Ripple, which has a huge impact on the crypto market.
Chris’ net worth has fluctuated in recent years, but his estimated net worth is about $2.9B, mainly from his stake in Ripple Labs and XRP holdings.
In 2018, his net worth was about $59B, making him the world’s fifth richest cryptocurrency billionaire. However, his net worth dropped to about $2.2B in 2020 due to the SEC-Ripple lawsuit, which caused XRP to tank.
Winklevoss Twins
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are undoubtedly some of the biggest people in crypto 2024. These extraordinary twins are the founders of Gemini Trust Company LLC and have a combined net worth of about $5.4B.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss became famous for their dispute with Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook.
It was reported that the Winklevoss twins originally had the idea of the social networking platform and hired Zuckerberg, a software developer, to help build it. However, they were conned by Zuckerberg, who later built Facebook for himself.
This led to a lawsuit, which the Winklevoss twins won and got $65M. Most of the funds they got from the lawsuit were tied up in Bitcoin.
These twins reportedly bought 1% of all the Bitcoin in circulation in 2013 – that is a large amount of Bitcoin.
The twins launched Gemini in 2014 and control 75% of the company. However, Gemini was estimated to be worth over $7B in 2021.
It is now worth less than $1B due to the constant lawsuits it faced in 2022 when Gemini Earn collapsed, causing its trading volume to drop.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are also believed to hold a large amount of Ether and Filecoin.
Mike Novogratz
Mike Novogratz is another big personality in Bitcoin. He is known as Wall Street’s king of Bitcoin, with an estimated net worth of $2.5B.
Mike was one of the earlier Bitcoin investors. He is the CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings CEO, a merchant bank and crypto investment firm with over $6B in total assets. Mike has a stake of about $2B in the company.
Before he ventured into cryptocurrency, Mike worked on Wall Street.
He worked at Goldman Sachs for ten years before moving on to Fortress Investment Group, a private equity company.
Justin Sun
This list of the biggest people in crypto 2024 will not be complete without Justin Sun, the father of TRON TRX and USDD, the first over-collateralized decentralized stablecoin.
He has built a name for himself and made himself a leading figure in the crypto industry.
Justin’s actual net worth is unknown but is estimated to be about $1.4B, down from $7B recorded in September 2021. This figure was derived from Justin’s crypto holdings and does not include wealth from outside cryptocurrency.
Lido wstETH makes up Justin’s largest known crypto holding, representing 30% of his wealth. USDD follows this at 21% and TRX at 17%, making Justin the fifth largest TRX holder currently.
Justin also has privately held equity in other firms he backed or founded, which would likely make his net worth higher than the recorded figure. Justin supposedly has equities in NFTs and meme coins, too.
In 2018, Justin acquired BitTorrent and launched the BitTorrent token, BTT. He is the current BitTorrent’s CEO.
Justin acquired Poloniex crypto exchange in 2019 for an undisclosed amount. He also reportedly acquired HTX (previously named Huobi).
Arthur Hayes
Arthur Hayes is a prominent personality in the world of cryptocurrency. He is a businessman, derivative trader, banker, fintech pioneer, entrepreneur, and Bitcoin advocate.
He is the co-founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, one of the most popular crypto trading platforms that first introduced Bitcoin leverage and short trading.
Although Arthur’s leadership at BitMex brought growth and powerful transformation to the firm, his tenure was truncated by controversies in 2020. He eventually stepped down as CEO and faced legal proceedings.
In 2022, he became the chief investment officer (CIO) at Maelstrom. Despite all the challenges he faced, Arthur remains influential, and his influence on the crypto industry cannot be ignored.
His posts and predictions on his X profile are highly relatable to crypto enthusiasts. For instance, he perfectly predicted the recent slow decline in Bitcoin price toward $50,000.
Roger Ver
Another big figure in crypto is Roger Ver. Roger Ver is an American entrepreneur and early investor in Bitcoin-related startups.
He is the CEO of Bitcoin.com and owns the very first firm, MemoryDealers, to accept payment in Bitcoin. He is also a partner at Bitangels and has funded several crypto-related firms, such as Z.cash, BitPay, Kraken, Ripple, and so on, during their seed round.
Roger is now an advocate for Bitcoin Cash.
Roger has most of his wealth in cryptocurrency and has an estimated net worth of over $8.42B, although some news sources quoted lower net worth for him due to the fluctuations in crypto prices. However, Roger reportedly holds 131,000 BTC tokens.
Matthew Roszak
Matthew Roszak, an American billionaire, is another big player in crypto, especially when it comes to stablecoins. He is also a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and crypto investor.
He started his journey to greatness when he co-founded Bloq with Jeff Garzik in 2016. Bloq has been assisting banks and financial institutions in storing cryptos securely and helping businesses with seamless stablecoin transactions.
As of July 2024, Roszak has an estimated net worth of about $3.1B, as reported by Forbes. Most of his wealth is gotten from his holdings and investments in crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
Roszak is undoubtedly one of the most successful cryptocurrency traders in the world and ranks ninth on the list of the richest people in crypto in 2024.
Charles Hoskinson
The last name on our list of the biggest people in crypto 2024 is no other person than Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson. He is a well-known personality in the crypto industry.
Hoskinson did not start with Cardano, he actually co-founded Ethereum with Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, Anthony Di Iorio, and Joseph Lubin.
However, Hoskinson left the group in 2014 after an unresolvable dispute with Vitalik Buterin – Hoskinson wanted Ethereum to go commercial while Vitalik wanted it as a non-profit.
Hoskinson launched Cardano in 2017 to address sustainability, interoperability and scalability issues faced by earlier cryptocurrencies. Cardano is currently the fourth-largest crypto in the world. This makes Hoskinson an influential personality.
He is also one of the front figures in the crypto industry due to his activities on social media channels.
Hoskinson has over 1M combined followers on social media platforms – about 700K on the X platform and about 300K on YouTube.
As of 2024, Charles Hoskinson reportedly has an estimated net worth of about $500M to $600M.
Conclusion
This is a list of the biggest people in crypto in 2024. This list can go on and on to include more names as many more people get big in crypto daily.
We recommend that you follow them on their social media platforms, learn from them, and always check their updates to improve your chances of becoming a successful crypto trader.
