Author: @alpha_gege
Editor: Biteye Core Contributor Denise
Whenever the market fluctuates, some friends exclaim, "Why can others achieve financial freedom?"
Today, let's take a look at how the 10 wealthiest figures in the crypto world made their fortunes. Where did their first pot of gold come from? What exclusive strategies do they have? Remember to take good notes after reading, as these are the paths and pitfalls that these big shots have walked!
01 Overview of Notable Crypto Tycoons
Note: The above is an estimated value of publicly disclosed wealth, and actual market fluctuations may affect asset value.
Next, let's take a closer look at the rags-to-riches stories of these crypto tycoons and how they each earned their first pot of gold.
1. Satoshi Nakamoto
When it comes to the richest person in the crypto world, one cannot overlook the mysterious figure of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. He published the Bitcoin white paper in 2008 and officially launched the Bitcoin network in 2009, earning the title of "Father of Cryptocurrency." His true identity remains unknown, and he has never made a public appearance, making him one of the biggest mysteries in the crypto world.
Although no one knows who he is, the approximately 1.1 million Bitcoins he mined in the early days represent his first pot of gold. These Bitcoins have almost never been moved or sold, yet they have rapidly appreciated in value as Bitcoin prices soared, now worth about $125 billion! It can be said that the more successful Bitcoin becomes, the more valuable his holdings are. However, Satoshi has been out of the spotlight since 2010, and some speculate that he may have lost his private keys or may no longer be alive. Regardless of the truth, the wealth myth created by Satoshi's first-mover advantage is undoubtedly at the pinnacle of the crypto world.
2. Changpeng Zhao
As the founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao's journey is almost a textbook case of entrepreneurship in the crypto world. CZ was a tech guy who wrote code in his early years and was involved in the creation of the OKCoin exchange but soon withdrew. His first pot of gold can be traced back to 2014 when he sold his house in Shanghai and exchanged it for about 1,500 Bitcoins (at that time, Bitcoin was around $600 each). The subsequent years saw Bitcoin prices skyrocket, allowing CZ to achieve significant asset appreciation and laying the capital foundation for his later ventures.
In 2017, he keenly seized the opportunity of the crypto bull market to establish Binance. With an efficient matching engine, a user-friendly experience, and the issuance of the platform token BNB as the core of its ecosystem, Binance quickly rose to become one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world within a few months. Binance's initial profit model was also simple and straightforward: trading fees + appreciation of the platform token. Think about it, exchanges are like collecting "toll fees"; the hotter the market and the more transactions, the more they earn. Subsequently, with the soaring business of Binance, CZ's personal wealth also skyrocketed, briefly making him the richest person among Chinese individuals. It can be said that creating a trading platform put CZ on the fast track to wealth, and his initial determination to go all-in on Bitcoin was a key step on his path to success.
3. Giancarlo Devasini
Many may not be familiar with the name Giancarlo Devasini, but everyone in the crypto space knows the USDT issued by his company, Tether. He originally graduated as a plastic surgeon but later found it boring and switched to dealing in electronic products. Devasini's first pot of gold in crypto came from investing in the Bitfinex exchange in 2012, and then co-founding the Tether stablecoin project in 2014. At that time, the stablecoin market was still a blank slate, and Devasini astutely seized this opportunity, turning USDT into a dollar substitute in the crypto world. Today, USDT has become the main stablecoin used across major exchanges. The resulting surge in valuation has led to explosive growth in his wealth in recent years. In short, he identified a market gap and pursued it relentlessly.
4. Brian Armstrong
Brian Armstrong, the founder of the largest exchange in the U.S., Coinbase, took a completely different path. As a software engineer, he first encountered Bitcoin while working at Airbnb around 2010 and keenly noticed that the process of purchasing Bitcoin was overly complicated and unfriendly. In 2012, he resolutely quit his job to start Coinbase, soon securing seed investment from Y Combinator, followed by venture capital from firms including the New York Stock Exchange, giving him ample funding in the early stages of his startup. His first pot of gold came from startup financing. From the beginning, Coinbase insisted on a compliant approach, which, although slower, proved to be stable. Coinbase not only obtained a legal license in the U.S. but also successfully went public on NASDAQ in 2021, with a market value that once exceeded $100 billion.
It is worth mentioning that Coinbase later partnered with the established investment bank JPMorgan, opening up funding channels for traditional banks, allowing bank customers to purchase cryptocurrencies directly with credit cards. This series of compliance operations not only made Armstrong money but also positioned him as a bridge between traditional finance and the crypto world.
5. Chris Larsen
Before entering the blockchain field, Chris Larsen was an entrepreneur in the financial sector, having founded the online lending company E-Loan in the 1990s. He also co-founded the P2P lending platform Prosper, making a name for himself in traditional finance. Because of this, he is well aware of the pain points in the payment sector.
In 2012, Larsen and his team co-founded Ripple, launching the Ripple payment protocol and the XRP cryptocurrency, aiming to use blockchain to change cross-border payments. His first pot of gold in the crypto industry can be said to come from the Ripple startup and his early holdings of XRP tokens. Ripple secured multiple rounds of financing between 2014 and 2016, and as a co-founder, Larsen naturally held a significant amount of XRP and company equity. The price of XRP skyrocketed hundreds of times in 2017, propelling Larsen's personal wealth to the top of the crypto rich list. Although the price of XRP has since declined, Larsen remains a top tycoon in the crypto world due to his substantial holdings.
6. Paolo Ardoino
Paolo Ardoino, the current CEO of Tether, is also a tech whiz. In 2014, he joined the Bitfinex exchange, where his solid programming skills quickly helped resolve a series of early system issues, showcasing his exceptional architectural capabilities. This caught the attention of Tether's founder, Devasini, and soon Paolo was invited to also serve as Tether's Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Paolo's first pot of gold can be said to come from the equity incentives he received at Tether. When he joined, the issuance of USDT was only a few tens of millions of dollars, but he helped the stablecoin rapidly expand to major public chains like Ethereum, Tron, and Solana, significantly increasing USDT's daily trading volume and application scenarios.
It can be said that he exchanged his technical prowess for real monetary returns. When Tether raked in tens of billions of dollars in interest income, Paolo, as a shareholder, received substantial dividends. His technical equity, combined with the soaring stablecoin, created his wealth myth.
7. Justin Sun
The name Justin Sun should be familiar to everyone. At the age of 19, he became an early representative of Ripple in Greater China and later launched his social app "Pei Wo," which also received investment. However, it was the TRON project he initiated in 2017 that truly earned him his first pot of gold. During the ICO boom, Sun raised tens of millions of dollars by issuing TRX tokens, accumulating significant initial capital for himself. Following the explosive growth of the crypto market, the price of TRX soared hundreds of times, instantly increasing the value of the tokens he held. As the founder of TRON, he also held a large amount of initial tokens, achieving a leap in wealth during that bull market.
Afterward, Sun began various bold marketing and capital operations: spending $4.56 million to win a lunch with Warren Buffett, which made him famous; successively acquiring the Poloniex exchange and investing in Huobi (now renamed HTX), building his own crypto empire. Justin Sun's style is straightforward and aggressive, grasping both technical tokens and market attention. Despite mixed reviews from the public, he indeed seized the opportunities presented to young people by the times, placing himself on the list of crypto tycoons.
8. Michael Saylor
Michael Saylor's story is somewhat different from others. The founder of MicroStrategy, a business intelligence software company, was originally a traditional tech tycoon. However, in 2020, at over fifty years old, he suddenly went all-in on Bitcoin with fervor. Saylor noticed the potential of Bitcoin and the inflation risks of the dollar, leading to a shocking decision to convert most of MicroStrategy's cash reserves into Bitcoin. This was akin to betting the tens of billions of dollars of a company on Bitcoin, and many thought he was crazy, especially since it was a NASDAQ-listed company!
But Saylor proved his judgment with facts. Since August 2020, MicroStrategy has continuously purchased Bitcoin, and by 2025, it had accumulated over 600,000 BTC, becoming one of the publicly traded companies with the most Bitcoin holdings globally. This series of aggressive actions has earned him substantial returns in the crypto space, and as Bitcoin prices later surpassed $100,000, his paper profits exceeded $10 billion, with the company's stock price multiplying several times. Today, MicroStrategy has simply listed Bitcoin as a primary reserve asset, and Saylor has become the spiritual leader of the "aggressive bulls" in the crypto world.
9. Stuart Hoegner
Stuart Hoegner is a relatively low-profile figure in the crypto world, but in terms of wealth, he can definitely be considered an invisible tycoon. As a lawyer, Hoegner became interested in the legal compliance of digital currencies early on. In 2014, long before cryptocurrencies entered the public eye, he joined the Bitfinex and Tether teams, at a time when industry regulation was a gray area, and survival was uncertain. Hoegner withstood immense pressure and gradually established a legal and compliance framework for Tether, such as promoting regular audits of Tether's reserves and transparency disclosure strategies, significantly enhancing market trust in USDT. His first pot of gold came from the Tether equity he held as a founding team member. Unlike other high-profile tycoons, Hoegner rarely gives interviews and seldom appears in public; he is a typical example of someone quietly accumulating wealth in the crypto space.
10. Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss
Cameron and Tyler, the twin brothers, initially gained attention for their legal battle with Zuckerberg over the founding rights of Facebook, settling for about $65 million, which became their starting point in the crypto world. The brothers' first pot of gold came from using the money earned from the Facebook lawsuit to buy Bitcoin in large quantities at low prices in 2013. This foresight made them one of the earliest large holders of Bitcoin.
Although the Gemini exchange they later founded developed steadily, it did not diminish the substantial returns from their early Bitcoin investments. As of now, it is said that the two still hold about 70,000 Bitcoins. With the groundwork laid by their initial pot of gold and their long-term belief in Bitcoin, the Winklevoss brothers have achieved continuous wealth appreciation.
11. Jeremy Allaire
Jeremy Allaire created the world's second-largest stablecoin, USDC. He founded companies like the video platform Brightcove during the internet era. In 2013, he keenly captured the opportunity in digital currencies and established Circle, with the initial vision of making cryptocurrencies more accessible to the public. Circle underwent several transformations and, in 2018, partnered with Coinbase to launch the US dollar stablecoin USDC, rapidly expanding its market share by leveraging Coinbase's status and user network. Allaire's first pot of digital wealth came from the success of Circle and the rise of USDC.
As the issuance of USDC surpassed tens of billions of dollars, Allaire's personal wealth significantly increased between 2021 and 2023. Although USDC's current market value is slightly lower than USDT's, Allaire successfully positioned himself among the ranks of crypto billionaires.
12. Xu Mingxing
Xu Mingxing is one of the earliest entrepreneurs to enter the crypto industry in China and is the founder of OKCoin/OKX, one of the "three major exchanges" in the crypto space. In 2013, at the age of 28, Xu founded OKCoin, which, at that time, was one of the three leading Bitcoin exchanges in China (the other two being Huobi and Bitcoin China). With solid products and market strategies, Xu quickly grew OKCoin, which once held a significant share of the domestic trading market. His first pot of gold naturally came from the exchange's profits and the platform token. OKCoin later upgraded to OKEx and issued the platform token OKB, with daily trading fees and the appreciation of OKB allowing Xu to earn substantial profits.
It is worth mentioning that he invited others, such as He Yi and Changpeng Zhao, to join in the early years, although they later parted ways due to differing philosophies.
13. Vitalik Buterin (V God)
As the father of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin is known as "V God" in the Chinese community. At just 19 years old, he wrote the Ethereum white paper based on his ideas for improving Bitcoin. In 2014, V God officially launched the Ethereum project through crowdfunding, holding a significant amount of initial ETH as a co-founder. The birth of Ethereum opened the door to smart contracts and decentralized applications, making blockchain no longer limited to just Bitcoin. V God's first pot of gold came from his early holdings of Ethereum.
However, this tech geek is not obsessed with money; he has donated large amounts of crypto assets for charity and research multiple times and has publicly expressed concerns about crypto bubbles. Nevertheless, due to his status as the creator of the Ethereum public chain, V God is still regarded as one of the most influential figures in the crypto world. He has proven that young developers can change the world and accumulate wealth through technological innovation.
02 Summary of Wealth Creation Paths: Three Major Wealth Models Disrupt Traditional Logic
After reading the stories of these crypto tycoons, some may wonder: Is there any commonality in their successful wealth accumulation? I summarized that behind the wealth myths in the crypto world, there are roughly three types of strategies that can be said to disrupt traditional wealth creation logic.
- King of Exchanges
The first type is "becoming the boss of an exchange." CZ and Xu Mingxing are outstanding representatives in this regard. The core of making money from exchanges lies in "collecting fees + building ecosystems." As long as users trade on your platform, you will continuously earn commissions. Another exchange tycoon, Armstrong from Coinbase, chose the compliant public listing route, diligently obtaining licenses and listing on NASDAQ. Today, the exchange industry shows significant head effects, allowing for easy earnings from fees while further amplifying profits through platform token ecosystems. The allure of this path lies in the fact that as long as you stand at the entrance of industry capital flow, wealth will continuously flow toward you.
- Long-term Holding of Bitcoin
The first type of model is relatively difficult to achieve for most people today. The second type is long-term holding of Bitcoin, in other words, making a heavy bet and holding potentially valuable crypto assets for the long term, relying on time to multiply value. Michael Saylor is one of the extreme representatives of betting on Bitcoin; even starting from 2020, he began to accumulate a large amount of Bitcoin and has now become one of the top three Bitcoin holders globally. If you believe Bitcoin will increase a hundredfold in ten years, then early accumulation of a large amount of tokens will undoubtedly yield astonishing compound returns. Of course, the premise of this route is to have extraordinary vision and a strong belief in holding tokens; otherwise, it is easy to be washed out during volatile price swings.
- Ecosystem Builders
The third type is ecosystem builders, who often possess both technical talent and capital insight, acquiring immense wealth by building entirely new ecosystems. The Ethereum project, led by V God, has evolved from the time he wrote the white paper at 19 to today, where he still leads technological iterations. Since its launch in 2014, Devasini and Paolo have made USDT the core of market liquidity, with the ecosystem feeding back into token value. Jeremy Allaire launched USDC, taking over ten years to establish its position as the "on-chain dollar." Justin Sun has also laid out a comprehensive strategy from chain, stablecoins, to exchanges with TRON, refining it as he goes. These individuals did not just "seize the opportunity"; they built a moat over time, continuously BUIDLing, which has led to their current status.
03 What Can Ordinary People Learn from Crypto Tycoons?
I have summarized some practical insights, hoping to help everyone avoid pitfalls and seize opportunities in the turbulent crypto world:
- Sharp Vision, Quick Action
Satoshi created BTC, and CZ founded Binance; these wealth myths all started from a bold idea. When an opportunity arises, be decisive and act quickly; don’t wait until most people understand it before you take action; by then, the opportunity may have passed. Opportunities are always reserved for those who are willing to take the first bite of the crab.
- Hold Your Tokens Steadily
The common wealth secret among crypto tycoons is not frequent trading but rather holding good projects for the long term. The most common mistake ordinary people make is chasing highs and selling lows, failing to hold onto tokens, resulting in small gains and large losses. Either don’t enter the market, or if you do, have faith; hold onto good assets and don’t fumble around; time will reward you generously.
- Find Your Advantage
Everyone has their own professional advantages; combining this advantage with opportunities in the crypto space significantly increases the chances of success. Ripple founder Larsen understands finance and cross-border payments, while CZ understands technology and matching engines; they have both leveraged their expertise in new fields for greater efficiency. Think about what you excel at and see if there are related areas in the crypto field that you can delve into.
- Learn Continuously
The crypto industry changes rapidly, and these tycoons almost all share a common trait: they maintain a keen sense of new knowledge and a passion for continuous learning. New concepts in blockchain emerge endlessly, and without ongoing learning, it is easy to miss the next wave of opportunities or even fall into pitfalls. Remember, to survive in the crypto world, learning and self-upgrading are always the most cost-effective investments.
Finally, I would like to remind you: while the wealth myths in the crypto world are indeed tempting, always remember that high returns are accompanied by high risks! Although the successful experiences of tycoons can be referenced, no one can completely replicate another person's life. After all, the real path must be walked by oneself, and finding a way to make money that suits you is more important than blindly following others.
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