Crypto

Not all the blockchain billionaires are surviving the harsh conditions. I t’s been a cold crypto winter for blockchain backers, builders and HODLers (crypto speak for patient investors). That goes for the people at the top too. America’s wealthiest crypto tycoons have lost billions of dollars over the last year as Bitcoin plummeted from over $50,000 to under $20,000, shares of exchange Coinbase plunged more than 75% and the total market value of all cryptocurrencies halved, from about $2.2 trillion to under $1 trillion, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Last fall, a record seven crypto billionaires made The Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the U.S. This year , only four remain. The quartet are worth a collective $27.3 billion. Last year’s seven were worth $55.1 billion. Things weren’t supposed to go this way. Crypto asset values and public recognition of crypto reached new heights last year, as Bitcoin hit a high of $69,000 in November and capital … [Read more...] about Crypto Winter Knocks 3 People Off Forbes 400 List Of Richest Americans

Crypto billionaire Jihan Wu - A + A NEW YORK (Sept 27): Chinese crypto billionaire Jihan Wu is setting up a US$250 million (RM1.15 billion) fund to buy distressed assets from bitcoin miners, as the industry reels from this year's steep drop in digital-asset prices. Wu's Bitdeer Technologies Holding Co plans to invest US$50 million as part of a junior tranche, meaning the firm's investment will be first at risk if the fund loses money. It aims to raise another US$200 million from outside investors such as family offices, venture capital firms, alternative investment funds, and other mining companies, a representative from Bitdeer told Bloomberg News . Bitcoin miners are under pressure as depressed token prices, high energy costs, and fierce competition all take a toll, driving a closely watched gauge of mining-industry revenue to a two-year low. Compute North, a major data-centre provider for crypto mining, filed for bankruptcy last week, while the three … [Read more...] about Crypto tycoon’s Bitdeer debuts fund targeting distressed miners

A Russian couple in Koh Samui in southern Thailand claims that a gang of six foreign men – including Russians, Kazakhs and a German – extorted them of cryptocurrency worth US$50,000, or 1.89 million baht. On Sunday, 31 year old Evgeny Abdullin and his wife Ekaterina Abdullin filed a complaint at Koh Samui Police Station. The couple said that six foreign men forced them into transferring their digital currency on September 15. Evgeny said he was sitting in a coffee shop in Koh Samui when six foreign men came into the cafe and encircled him. Evgeny said that a German man named Salman Almaty told said that he had met him and Ekaterina once before in Russia. Then, Salman demanded that Evgeny transfer him US$3 million (112 million baht) in cryptocurrency, Evgeny told police. However, the couple only had US$58,000 worth. Evgeny said he was scared the men would hurt him, so he transferred the gang US$50,000 worth of digital money. He said that Salman wrote down his phone … [Read more...] about Foreign gang allegedly extorts Russian couple of crypto worth US$50k in Thailand

US Federal Reserve chairperson Jerome Powell - A + A NEW YORK/PARIS (Sept 27): US Federal Reserve (Fed) chairperson Jerome Powell has called for better regulation of cryptocurrencies and said the fact that the industry's shakeout failed to cause broader financial turmoil may not be the case in the future. Global increases in interest rates exposed "significant structural issues in the DeFi ecosystem", Powell said on Tuesday during a panel discussion on digital finance hosted by the Banque de France, referring to decentralised finance. "The good news, I suppose, is that the interaction — from a financial stability standpoint — the interaction between the DeFi ecosystem and the traditional banking system and traditional financial system is not that large at this point. "That situation will not persist indefinitely," he said via video. "There's a real need for more appropriate regulation, so that as DeFi expands and starts to touch more retail customers and that … [Read more...] about Fed’s Powell says there is ‘real need’ for better crypto regulation

Sebastien Borget, the co-founder and the chief operating officer of The Sandbox, pose at the company office in Gangnam, southern Seoul, on Sept 20. [PARK SANG-MOON] With crypto in the dumps and the flop of the NFT market, skepticism is running high about the metaverse. Stocks of metaverse companies crashed this year, led down by Meta, formally Facebook. Supporters of the technology, in which simulated worlds are generated by computer systems and people live and work in them as avatars, say that the fall is just part of the journey to the next big thing. And they add that Korea is where it's happening. It is a "logical step for Korea to jump into the metaverse" because of a strong game market, solid blockchain community and the nation's fast adoption of new technologies, said Sebastien Borget, co-founder and chief operating officer of The Sandbox in an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at The Sandbox Seoul office in southern Seoul on Sept. 20. Borget visited Korea … [Read more...] about Metaverse faithful see the future after the fall

For the first time since the Great Recession, the super-rich did not get richer this year. A fter a roaring 2021, the 400 richest people in the U.S.–along with many Americans–have been hit by rising inflation and falling markets. As a group, this year’s Forbes 400 is $500 billion poorer than they were a year ago. Their total net worth stands at $4 trillion, down 11% from last year. The minimum net worth required to make the list also fell, by $200 million, to $2.7 billion. It’s the first time since the Great Recession that America’s ultra-wealthy aren’t richer than the year before. Forbes calculated net worths using stock prices from September 2, 2022. No one has been hit harder than American tech tycoons, who have lost a combined $315 billion , as their stock prices have plummeted and the spigot of venture capital money has slowed. A total of 41 people fell from the ranks this year, including Yahoo’s Jerry Yang , Rivian’s RJ Scaringe and, thanks to the … [Read more...] about The 2022 Forbes 400 List Of Richest Americans: Facts And Figures

Chaos in crypto and turmoil in tech have sent many young billionaires tumbling down the wealth rankings over the past year. These are the 10 who survived. I t’s not as easy as it was to be young and rich. After their fortunes surged last year thanks to a pandemic-fueled burst of momentum in the markets, many young billionaires tumbled down the wealth rankings in 2022 as rising inflation and fears of recession roiled industries ranging from technology to used car sales. There are 10 billionaires under the age of 40 on this year’s Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, down from 15 last year. One billionaire simply aged out of the youngest group: In-N-Out Burger heir Lynsi Snyder (worth an estimated $4.2 billion) turned 40 in May. The others all fell below the list’s $2.7 billion cutoff—or out of the billionaire rankings altogether—amid the market’s wild swings. The plummeting value of cryptocurrencies wiped tens of billions of dollars of wealth from crypto … [Read more...] about 10 Under 40: The Youngest Billionaires On The 2022 Forbes 400

These billionaires are too poor to make the cut–for now. T here’s rich, then there’s Forbes 400 rich. It takes $2.7 billion to qualify for this year’s ranking of America’s wealthiest people. That’s down from $2.9 billion last year, but still a far cry from just a decade ago, when the cutoff for this elite group was just $1.1 billion . That leaves plenty of famous faces behind. Oprah Winfrey (estimated net worth, $2.5 billion) is too poor. Kanye West ($2 billion) doesn’t have enough. Neither do Kim Kardashian ($1.8 billion), Michael Jordan ($1.7 billion), Peter Jackson ($1.5 billion) or Jay-Z ( $1.3 billion ). The same goes for 98-year-old Charlie Munger ($2.1 billion), Warren Buffet’s longtime partner; JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon ($1.4 billion); and Tim Cook ($1.8 billion), Apple’s top boss since 2011. In all, Forbes found more than 300 American billionaires who have ten-figure fortunes, but not enough dough to crack The Forbes 400. Here are a handful of … [Read more...] about Oprah, Kanye, Charlie Munger: The American Billionaires Too Poor To Make The 2022 Forbes 400

A tenth of last year’s list failed to make the cut in 2022. A handful lost their billionaire status altogether. I t was a bit easier to make The Forbes 400 list of America’s richest people this year, with the minimum net worth dropping by $200 million, to $2.7 billion. Still, amid surging inflation and recoiling markets, 41 members of the 2021 Forbes 400 lost their spot among this elite set in 2022. Six lost their billionaire status altogether, while another five members of last year’s 400 passed away. In all, half of the 44 people who made the list for the first time in 2021 ended up falling off in 2022. Among them: Baiju Bhatt (now worth less than $700 million), cofounder of no-fee stock trading app Robinhood Markets; serial crypto entrepreneur Jed McCaleb ($2.5 billion), believed by some to be bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto; and two cofounders of photo-bookmarking site Pinterest, Ben Silbermann ($1.4 billion) and Paul Sciarra ($1.3 billion). More than half of this … [Read more...] about Yahoo’s Jerry Yang, Rivian’s RJ Scaringe, The Winklevoss Twins: Here’s Who Fell Off The 2022 Forbes 400 List Of Richest Americans

A guide to just how self-made America’s richest people are. N ot all wealth is created equal. Just ask the members of The Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America, some of whom braved poverty, homelessness and political persecution to rank among the nation’s richest people, while others were simply born into this elite group. To better contextualize America’s great fortunes, in 2014 Forbes began assigning each billionaire a self-made score. A score between 1 and 5 indicates that an individual has inherited their wealth. A score of 6 to 10 means they built their own company or established their fortune on their own. SELF-MADE SCORES ON THE 2021 FORBES 400 Here is how many members of The Forbes 400 got each self-made score. Only 28 members of this year’s Forbes 400–7% of the list–scored a lowly 1, meaning they inherited a fortune and are not actively working to increase it in any way. This includes mega-rich heirs such as Austen and James Cargill, one of … [Read more...] about The 2022 Forbes 400 Self-Made Score: From Silver Spooners To Bootstrappers