Bitcoin Halving Impact Fades as Demand Takes Center Stage
According to reports, the Open Interest in Bitcoin is now 30 times higher than it was 11 days before the 2020 Bitcoin halving.
The past two years have been massive for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency holders with the digital currency market industry tagging all-time high records and gaining massively since the beginning of 2020.
As 2020 kicked off, Bitcoin was looking at just over $7190 USD. At the end of 2020, it has gained to see over $28837 USD. Since then, Bitcoin’s trajectory has seen a more volatile year, but overall holders have gained. In November, Bitcoin saw a new all-time high trading value of $69,044.7 USD – a nearly 150% gain since the end of a bullish 2020. Now, Bitcoin might have taken a knockback from its record high, but the cryptocurrency has held onto a bullish above $50,000 USD at the time of writing.
And Bitcoin’s not the only cryptocurrency to see a monumental increase over the year. Ethereum’s looking at a 538.8% increase in year-on-year trading and Solana is boasting a whopping 15015.9% gain over the year.
Anyone who bought Bitcoin and cryptocurrency over the year would be enjoying the gains, but some individuals, in particular, are looking at extraordinary returns.
Six new crypto billionaires in 2021
As listed on the Forbes wealthiest people, there are seven people who have made their wealth through cryptocurrency. Six of them made the “billionaire” title just this year. According to Forbes, the six new crypto billionaires make up a massive $55.1 billion USD collective net worth. One of the new billionaires, Sam Bankman-Fried, makes up almost half of that wealth with a massive $22.5 billion USD sitting under his name.
Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss
Worth: $8.6 billion USD (together)
Another pair well-known in the cryptocurrency space, the Winklevoss twins are the famed duo that was a part of the launch of Facebook before it got its name – and subsequently wrapped in the legal process following Marc Zuckerberg’s involvement. The two are early adopters of Bitcoin and became involved in the crypto space by launching the US-based exchange Gemini.
Sam Bankman-Fried
Worth: $22.5 billion USD
Bankman-Fried has built up one of the most popular cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges in the industry. As the CEO of FTX, Bankman-Fried is not only a new billionaire, but he’s also one of the youngest at only 29 years old. The majority of his wealth is tied to FTX. The exchange processes around $13.8 billion USD in daily trading volume and in July, the exchange closed a Series B funding round at $900 million USD – one of the largest venture capital rounds in the cryptocurrency industry to date.
Brian Armstrong
Worth: $11.5 billion USD
As the CEO and co-founder of Coinbase, Armstrong is a well-known Bitcoin bull. His company has been steadily growing over the years but made its waves in April when Armstrong took it public. As part of an $86 billion USD listing, Coinbase is both a massive name in crypto as well as public listings in the market. Armstrong’s 19% ownership of Coinbase is where he has made his wealth.
Fred Ehrsam
Worth: $3.5 billion USD
Along with Armstrong, Ehrsam is one of Coinbase’s co-founders. Though he left the platform a few years ago, he is still involved in Coibnase as a board member and owns about 6% of the company. He is also working on Paradigm, one of the biggest crypto-focused investment firms, which has more than $1 billion USD in assets.
Jed McCaleb
Worth: $3 billion USD
McCaleb has been a name in cryptocurrency since the early days of the blockchain-based asset space. As one of Ripple’s co-founders, McCaleb has made most of his cryptocurrency wealth from his XRP stake. He was also involved in Mt. Gox, the cryptocurrency exchange famous for losing massive amounts of crypto through a major hack.