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- 12 crypto billionaires lost a major portion of their fortunes
- The market tanked due to fears of a Chinese crackdown
- 12 billionaires are still worth a whopping $46.8 billion
The cryptocurrency market has tanked and more than $15.5 billion has been lost by 12 crypto billionaires in the process. The latest drop in cryptocurrencies has been unprecedented and is the result of fears about tighter regulation in China. Cryptocurrencies have lost nearly 25% of their values.
The cryptocurrency fall conforms to the adage that after a steep rise there is always a fall. The prices of Bitcoin(BTC) surged to $59,423 per coin at midnight on May 10 before the fall began. In the next nine days the crypto giant lost 36%mof its values and along with it sank the fortunes of a dozen billionaires who had made their fortunes during the crypto boom. The collective worth dropped from $62.3 billion to $46.8 billion. BTC was the worst hit and tanked to an all-time low of $30,846 around 9 a.m. ET on Wednesday. It made amends and regained some of its losses and stood at $38,083 at 3 pm. However, it needs to be pointed out that a year ago BTC was trading at $9,700 per coin.
Vitalik Buterin, not a billionaire anymore
The case of Vitalik Buterin, the co-creator of the blockchain platform Ethereum is even ironic. He became a Billionaire last week but the recent crash in the value of Ether has left him with a net worth of $850 million.
However, it is not all dark clouds and the 12 billionaires are still worth a whopping $46.8 billion. It is up 25% from $37.3 billion on March 5, when Forbes calculated their combined worth for the 2021 billionaires list.
Sam Bankman-Fried lost $1.2 Billion
The worst was endured by the 29-year-old founder of quantitative crypto trading firm Alameda Research, Sam Bankman-Fried. According to Forbes, his net worth was $16.7 billion at Bitcoin’s peak on May 10. After the crash, his worth stood at $11.5 billion as of Wednesday afternoon. He earned his fortunes after he launched FTX, a crypto derivatives exchange, in 2019. The majority of his riches came from FTX’s equity and tokens.
Winklevoss twins lost $900 million
Another billionaire duo, the Winklevoss twins also lost their billions to the crypto crash. Better known for their feud with Mark Zuckerberg over the creation of Facebook, the twin saw $900 million chiseled of from their riches in the last nine days representing a loss of 24%. The twins who received a $65 million settlement from Facebook invested a major portion in BTC and launched the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini in 2014.
Michael Saylor biggest percentage loser
Former dot-com billionaire, Michael Saylor who later switched into bitcoin trade was the biggest percentage loser in the Bitcoin crash. A former rocket scientist, Saylor revealed in 2020 that he had bought 17,732 bitcoins for $175 million. He plowed his earnings from MicroStrategy to invest in Bitcoin and purchased 70,784 bitcoins for $1.1 billion. His net worth was estimated by Forbes to be $3.3 billion at Bitcoin’s peak. However, his net worth has declined 45% in the past nine days to $1.8 billion.
Mr. Pratik chadhokar is an Indian Forex, Cryptocurrencies and Financial Market Advisor and analyst with a background in IT and Financial market Strategist. He specialises in market strategies and technical analysis and has spent over a year as a financial markets contributor and observer. He possesses strong technical analytical skills and is well known for his entertaining and informative analysis of the Financial markets.
