The bear market and wave of bankruptcies in the cryptocurrency industry drained $116 billion from the pockets of founders and investors in the last nine months. according to to recent Forbes estimates.
The loss represents the combined personal wealth of 17 people in space, with more than 15 losing more than half their fortunes since March. As a result, 10 names were removed from the crypto billionaires list.
One of the major losses was attributed to Binance CEO Changpeng โCZโ Zhao. In March, his 70% stake in the cryptocurrency exchange was valued at $65 billion, but is now worth $4.5 billion.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion, down from $6 billion in March. Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen's fortune dropped from $4.3bn to $2.1bn while Gemini's Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss were valued at $4bn in March but are now worth $1.1bn each.
Related: FTX Collapse: The Lehman Brothers Moment of the Crypto Industry
Among those who lost billionaire status were FTX co-founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, whose fortunes in March were valued at $24 billion and $5.9 billion, respectively, and $0 in December. The $3.2 billion fortune of Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, was also lost as a result of the contagion wave caused by the FTX collapse, according to Forbes.
Other former billionaires include Nickel Viswanathan and Joseph Lay of crypto software firm Alchemy, OpenSea's Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah, Coinbase's Fred Ehrsam, Microstrategy founder Michael Saylor and venture capitalist Tim Draper.
The cryptocurrency bear market is unlikely to end anytime soon as the FTX crisis has deterred investor confidence and created an industry-wide liquidity crisis. Cointelegraph reported. As a result, the market downturn is expected to last until the end of 2023.
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