It’s no surprise that some of the biggest and earliest investors in cryptocurrencies were tech entrepreneurs who saw the potential of the blockchain and the new form of currency long before most other people did.
Not only have they gone on to create enormous wallets, but they have also led the charge in advocating for crypto and pushing for its mass adoption. Here are nine entrepreneurs that love everything to do with cryptocurrency.
Michael Saylor
Michael Saylor is the founder of business intelligence company MicroStrategy, and one of the leading cryptocurrency advocates. Saylor and his firm got into Bitcoin trading early on. As recently as last year he added another $10 million in Bitcoin to his company’s portfolio.
At the last count, MicroStrategy currently holds 129,699 bitcoin, which is equal to about $2,717,479,387.
Barry Silbert
Barry Silbert and his companies are arguably the biggest investors and advocates for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. He founded the company Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrency and blockchain companies. At the last count, DCG had over 166 cryptocurrency and blockchain-related groups under their umbrella.
Silbert doesn’t just love crypto companies, either. DCG owns Grayscale Investments, which manages the Bitcoin Trust. The investment vehicle held over $14 billion in bitcoin as of July last year.
Tyler & Cameron Winklevoss
You will probably know the Winklevoss twins from the film The Social Network, as they are the ones that claimed to have given Mark Zuckerberg the idea for Facebook, and who won millions of dollars in lawsuits against the Facebook founder.
Using this money, they have gone on to invest in multiple cryptocurrencies as well as crypto and blockchain-related companies. They are believed to be the first people to become billionaires through Bitcoin, and have also invested heavily in Ethereum.
Michael Novogratz
Michael Novogratz is known to be a keen investor in crypto, but he has also expanded his reach into NFTs. His company, Galaxy Digital, focuses on digital assets and NFTs, and has bought over $62 million worth of digital asset-related companies.
While little is known about Galaxy Digital’s profits, in the first quarter of last year it was stated that it owns over $250 million worth of Bitcoin, with much of its focus being on digital assets rather than the tokens themselves.
Charlie Lee
Charlie Lee is a computer scientist who has worked for Google. In 2022 he became incredibly interested in Bitcoin trading and blockchain technology. A long-time crypto miner, he couldn’t ignore the potential of cryptocurrency anymore so he decided to create his own; that project became known as Litecoin.
Due to a perceived conflict of interest, Lee sold all of his Litecoin holdings in 2017 and is currently working full-time with the Litecoin Foundation, which strives for universal Litecoin adoption.
Roger Ver
Roger Ver is the former CEO of Bitcoin, as well as one of its strongest advocates in the early years of cryptocurrency. He has invested millions of dollars into Bitcoin and crypto startups through his company MemoryDealers.
MemoryDealers was also one of the first companies to begin accepting Bitcoin as a currency, earning Ver the nickname of “Bitcoin Jesus.” He is arguably one of the key figures in the success of Bitcoin, next to Satoshi Nakamoto.
Jack Dorsey
Jack Dorsey, one of the founders of Twitter, has been a leading proponent of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a whole for several years now. He has also stated that cryptocurrency is the future of money, and he intends to integrate it into his future projects.
While Dorsey is an advocate for all crypto, he has stated that he currently only invests in Bitcoin, and he has also kept his wallet size private, for the most part.
Elizabeth Stark
Elizabeth Stark is an entrepreneur and open-internet advocate who is one of the most exciting names in the crypto world right now. Her company, Lightning Labs, is a tech start-up that is focussing on making the Bitcoin blockchain faster and more accessible.
While it isn’t known how much Bitcoin and crypto Stark owns, she has stated that she has been investing since her time as a professor at Stanford in 2010, so she most likely has at least a few million stored away!