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Crypto-Spring in Bloom as Institutions and Billionaire "OG" Investors Mature Towards Bitcoin

The Bitcoin price hit its peak of around $20,000 at the end of 2017, but over the last two years it has been trading at around half that value. Along with Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies that take their cue from the success of the pioneer crypto, have also not achieved anything close to their values at the end of the 2017 ICO rush.

With the sudden crash of Bitcoin from $20,000 in December 2018 to just $3000 in January 2018, many believed the crypto bubble had burst and mainstream and institutional investors became completely uninterested in the technology overnight. This freeze-out of cryptocurrencies as legitimate assets for investment and development became known as the ‘crypto-winter’.

But times are changing and according to Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and early investor in Coinbase believes the crypto winter is thawing and asserts that we are on the cusp of a ‘crypto spring’.

Crypto-Winter Thawing

In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Ohanian said, “We really do see a crypto spring right now in terms of top-tier engineers, product developers, designers, building real solutions on top of the blockchain.” He added that these developments are, “the best signal of long-term value creation.”

Ohanian’s sentiment is matched by a recent report by renowned venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz, which has forecasted a ‘fourth crypto cycle’ which would mean the end of the third crypto winter and kick-offed of a cycle of cryptocurrency prosperity.

Partners at Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Dixon, and Eddy Lazzarin wrote in the blog, “The 2017 cycle spawned dozens of exciting projects in a wide range of areas including payments, finance, games, infrastructure and web apps.”

Bitcoin had a resurgence in price last year, climbing to a peak of 12,000 for 2019. While the price did drop again amid heightened regulation discussion, it ultimately crashed in March 2020 along with the rest of the S&P 500 to $4000.

However, less than a few months later and Bitcoin is now approaching the $10,000 mark and Ohanian said that the projected trends they’ve “seen bear out are quite telling.” Ohanian also revealed that he has had a percentage of his wealth in crypto “for quite some time” and he believes it to be “a prudent hedge.”

Original Gangster of Investment

The coming crypto spring is following a wave of fresh support for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency among high profile investors like billionaire’s Paul Tudor Jones, Tim Draper, and Stan Druckermiller.

Ohanian stated, “It’s interesting to see OGs of Wall Street now getting into crypto and Bitcoin, it’s increasingly showing that it’s here to stay.”

Investment Banks Are In for Crypto-Spring

Along with well-known investors, institutional investment banks are also now assessing cryptocurrency and Bitcoin with a new level of maturity.

According to a recent investors’ invitation, Goldman Sachs is calling for a conference call event to further discuss inflation, gold, and Bitcoin. The investment bank seeks to hold a call with its top investors on the “US Economic Outlook & Implications of Current Policies for Inflation, Gold, And Bitcoin.”

Per the invitation, the event is scheduled to take place on May 27^{th. There are no specific details concerning the exact content and agenda of the conference. However, the report shows that the bank aims to discuss how the risk of monetary inflation and the current central bank policy could impact assets such as gold and Bitcoin.}

In a recent interview, CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon also revealed that Goldman Sach’s could follow the footsteps of its competitor JPMorgan Chase in launching its own crypto coin.

Solomon further said that the bank has been performing extensive research on stablecoins and asset tokenization. In the interview, the Goldman CEO expressed his belief in the potential that cryptocurrency holds in enabling frictionless and quick cross-border payments. Just like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs believes that such currency will need to be backed by fiat currencies. Solomon acknowledged the reality that banks are keen on joining the cryptocurrency race. He said that banks must remain innovative, otherwise, they will disappear.

Image via Shutterstock

Bitcoin Billionaires Movie to Tell the Winklevoss Twins’ Story

The Winklevoss brothers have teamed up with Stampede Ventures to bring their best-selling biography, ‘Bitcoin Billionaires’ to the big screen.

Stampede Ventures has teamed up with the Winklevoss Twins to produce a feature film adaptation of the bestselling non-fiction book Bitcoin Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. The production company owned by Greg Silverman will produce the film with Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

The Winklevoss Twins and Ben Mezrich

The Winklevoss twins first encountered writer Ben Mezrich when he approached them for research on his book The Accidental Billionaire, which was the foundation of the Oscar-winning film The Social Network. The bestseller and film was based on their infamous legal battles with Mark Zuckerberg, who they alleged stole the idea for Facebook from them.

Bitcoin Billionaires was written in 2019 and is Mezrich’s follow-up to The Accidental Billionaire. The story chronicles the Winklevoss Twins post-Facebook battle, as they strike gold a second time by becoming the first identifiable Bitcoin billionaires in the history of cryptocurrency.

Following a court ruling in the legal battle against Zuckerberg, the brothers were finally awarded $65 million settlement for their claims. The Winklevoss’ invested $11 million of their settlement into Bitcoin (BTC) in 2013 and became the world’s first crypto billionaires in 2017 when the Bitcoin price began to gain exponentially.

According to the report published on Deadline, Silverman will produce the movie along with Jon Berg, who is best known for his work with the DC superhero blockbuster Wonder Woman.

19 Crypto Billionaires Rank among Forbes’ Annual World’s Billionaires List, Increased by 58% from Last Year

The number of crypto billionaires increased from twelve in 2020 to nineteen in 2021, according to the Forbes’ Annual World’s Billionaires list.

In 2021, the 58.3% surge in crypto billionaires was fuelled by Web3 innovations, the exponential growth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the attainment of all-time high (ATH) prices by various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

The top-three spots are dominated by crypto exchange founders, with Changpeng Zhao “CZ” of Binance taking the helm based on a net worth of $65 billion. CZ is followed by Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of FTX, and Brian Armstrong, the founder and CEO of Coinbase, with a net worth of $24 billion and $6.6 billion, respectively.

Based on Forbes findings, CZ owns 70% of Binance as the 19th richest person globally. Binance dominance in the crypto space continues to be felt, given that it facilitated nearly two-thirds of all trading volume made by centralized exchanges. As a result, generating nearly $16 billion in revenue.

The newcomers on the crypto billionaire list include Nikil Viswanathan and Joseph Lau, the co-founders of Web3 infrastructure company Alchemy, with a $2.4 billion net worth each.

The others are Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah, the co-founders of the leading NFT marketplace OpenSea, with a $2.2 billion net worth apiece.

Some notable names also on the list include Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss of Gemini, Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy, and venture capitalist Tim Draper.

MicroStrategy, a leading business intelligence firm, has been leading the race in crypto institutional investment. At one time, Saylor opined that MicroStrategy was more inclined towards Bitcoin because it provided the best returns compared to other assets like precious metals, real estate, derivatives, stocks, and government debt.

Crypto exchange Gemini recently released “The Global State of Crypto Report”. It noted that cryptocurrency reached a tipping point in 2021 because it evolved from a niche investment into a globally established asset class.

Crypto Winter Beats Top Crypto Billionaires from US Ranking – Forbes

The downturn in the broader digital currency ecosystem has hit some notable billionaires in the US, pulling four names out of the wealthiest American’s list, according to Forbes data.

The media outfit said of the 7 names that made the list of the 400 richest last year with a cumulative net worth of $55.1 billion, only 4 are left, and they all command just $27.3 billion.

With both the prices of digital currencies and the valuation of companies plummeting by a very wide range, the networth of all the billionaires profiled have dropped, even though all still rank as some of America’s richest.

The Crypto Billionaires Who Made the List

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is the richest crypto billionaire in the United States and currently ranks in the 41st position. SBF now boasts of a cumulative networth of $17.2 billion, down from $22.5 billion as of this period last year. Sam is the CEO of FTX Derivatives Exchange and a host of other successful subsidiaries of the trading platform.

The next best-ranked billionaire is Sam’s Co-Founder, Gary Wang, whose networth and ranking are pegged at $4.6 billion and 227, respectively. Wang owned approximately 16% each of both FTX and FTX US.

Ripple Co-Founder, Chris Larsen is the 380th richest American with a total valuation of $2.8 billion (down from $6 billion). Chris’s valuation has been impacted by the price of the XRP coin and the long-protracted lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the status of XRP as a security.

Brain Armstrong, the CEO of Nasdaq-listed trading platform Coinbase Global Inc ranks in the 388th position atop a $2.7 billion (down from $11.5 billion). With the shares of Coinbase plunging remarkably, Brian comes off as the billionaire that has taken the most hit over the past year.

Crypto Billionaires Who Fell by the Wayside

According to the Forbes report, The Winklevoss twin does not make a list this year despite their $2.2 billion networth. As of last year, the Gemini twin was worth $4.3 billion. Jed McCaleb (worth $2.5 billion) and Fred Erhsam (worth $1.1 billion) did not also make the elite list this year.