Who Are the Crypto Whales of the Market?

A crypto whale refers to a person or entity that holds a large amount of cryptocurrency. Crypto whales hold enormous amounts of cryptocurrencies to the extent that their transactions alone can affect the prices of cryptocurrencies.

1. Satoshi Nakamoto

The unknown creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is believed to hold around 1 million BTC coins. This would make this "entity" the largest crypto whale in the market with a value of approximately $29.2 billion.

2. Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong’s crypto career started in 2012 when he became a co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, one of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency trading platforms. When it comes to Armstrong’ personal wealth, estimates suggest he is worth around $6.5 billion.

However, it’s difficult to estimate just what kind of crypto whale Armstrong is and which types and quantities of cryptocurrencies he holds.

3. Michael Saylor

Michael Saylor is an American entrepreneur and businessman, as well as the CEO of MicroStrategy. He began accumulating Bitcoin in 2020, and currently holds more than 17,732 BTC, worth over $1.14 billion. He has confirmed his firm’s intention to continue adding more Bitcoin to its balance sheet.

Michael Saylor recently compared his firm to a “sportscar,” whereas a spot Bitcoin ETF will be like a “supertanker” when it comes to giving investors Bitcoin exposure.

4. Chris Larsen

Chris Larsen was a major factor in the launch of the Ripple cryptocurrency in 2012, which has considerably grown in popularity in contemporary times. While there’s no direct information on exactly how much crypto Larsen holds in total, estimates put it at 5.19 billion XRP, corresponding to approximately $37.3 billion.

5. Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao (CZ for short) is the CEO of Binance, and he is considered to be one of the biggest Bitcoin whales on the market. CZ’s combined crypto holdings are spread over Binance Coin (BNB) and Bitcoin. According to reports, CZ’s net worth is around $96 billion – but that estimate does not factor in his cryptocurrency holdings, which he says he plans to donate to charity.

6. Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin is the inventor of Ethereum and is considered to be one of the largest Ethereum whales on the market. Though his holdings in ETH remain unknown, as the co-creator of Ethereum, Buterin was once said to hold around 355,000 ETH, as well as various quantities of other altcoins including SHIB and DOGE.

 7. Tim Draper

Tim Draper is a well-known venture capitalist and founder of a host of ventures, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper University, Draper Venture Network, Draper Associates and Draper Goren Holm, among many others.

Draper is a proponent of Bitcoin and decentralization and is considered to be one of the biggest players on the Bitcoin whales list thanks to his purchase of 30,000 BTC for a bargain price when they were seized by Silk Road. The tech and decentralization benefactor is expected to be worth a bit over $1 billion.

8. The Winklevoss Twins

The twins are still considered to be some of the biggest Bitcoin whales around, with around 70,000 BTC in their portfolio, as well as other cryptocurrencies. The Winklevoss twins are perhaps best known for accusing Mark Zuckerberg for lifting their idea for a social network.

They invested in Bitcoin and crypto startups and launched their own cryptocurrency exchange company, Gemini. The Winklevoss twins’ estimated worth is some $2.1 billion each.

9. Barry Silbert

Barry Silbert was an early Bitcoin adopter. He bought about $175,000 worth of Bitcoin in 2012, paying about $11 a coin at a time when the cryptocurrency was little known beyond niche internet blogs.

Silbert went on to launch Digital Currency Group in New York in 2015. A conglomerate of five cryptocurrency-focused companies, DCG's biggest revenue generator is digital asset manager Grayscale, which oversees $28 billion worth of Bitcoin, Ether and other assets. Grayscale was the first application approved to trade securities backed by Bitcoin and raised about £434 million annually.

10. Jed McCaleb

Jed McCaleb is an American programmer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is a co-founder and the CTO of Stellar; a self-proclaimed open network for strorig and moving money. Prior to co-founding Stellar, McCaleb founded and served as the CTO of Ripple until 2013.

McCaleb is also known for creating the Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange and the peer-to-peer eDonkey protocol. Although McCaleb left the Ripple project, he’s still said to own around 3.4 billion XRP. By today’s standards, this gives McCaleb’s wallet a net worth of around $1.65 billion, which also makes up a significant portion of his overall wealth.