Crypto Bear Marketbulges Bankrupt Waves, There Are Billionaires Of Crypto Falling Poor

JAKARTA - The bear market and the wave of bankruptcy in the crypto industry cost $116 billion (IDR 1,811 trillion) from the pockets of founders and investors in the last nine months. This latest estimate comes from Forbes.

The loss represents the combined personal equity of 17 people in the space, with more than 15 people losing more than half of their fortune since March 2022. As a result, 10 names were removed from the list of crypto billionaires.

One of the big losses was experienced by Binance CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao. In March, 70% of its shares on the crypto exchange were worth USD 65 billion (IDR 1.014.7 trillion), but now it is only worth USD 4.5 billion (IDR 70 trillion).

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong now has a net worth of only an estimated 1.5 billion (Rp23.4 trillion), down from the previous US$6 billion (Rp93.6 trillion) in March. The wealth of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has decreased from US$4.3 billion (Rp67.1 trillion) to US$2.1 billion (Rp32.7 trillion), while Gemini's Cameron and Tyler Kaliversss are worth US$4 billion (Rp62.4 trillion) in March, but now they are worth US$1.1 billion each. (Rp 17.1 trillion).

Among those who lost billionaire status were FTX co-founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, whose fortunes in March were worth USD 24 billion (IDR 374.6 trillion) and USD 5.9 billion (IDR 92.1 trillion), now 0 in December. Barry Silbert's wealth of USD 3.2 billion, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, was also lost due to the outbreak of the FTX.

Among former billionaires as well as Nickel Viswanathan and Joseph Lay of crypto software company Alchemy, Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah of OpenSea, Fred Ehrsam of Coinbase, founder of MicroStrategy Michael Saylor and venture financier of Tim Draper.

According to a Cointelegraph report, the Bear market against cryptocurrencies is unlikely to end soon, as the FTX crisis has hindered investor confidence and created a liquidity crisis across the industry. As a result, the decline in the market is expected to last until the end of 2023.