Brian Armstrong’s fortune has fallen by more than US$10 billion since peaking seven months ago at US$17.7 billion. The decline followed JPMorgan Chase’s 27% reduction in Coinbase’s price target on February 10, citing softness in crypto prices, lower trading volumes and slow stablecoin growth. Coinbase shares have dropped roughly 60% from a July high, while Bitcoin has halved since early October. Most of Armstrong’s US$7.5 billion net worth is tied to his 14% stake in Coinbase, the New York-based exchange he co-founded in 2012.
He regularly sells Coinbase stock and also owns part of NewLimit, a longevity-focused biotech startup he co-founded and invested in. Armstrong isn’t alone in feeling the downturn. Other crypto billionaires have fallen from the ranks of the world’s richest list as prices tumble; Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss saw their net worths shrink to US$1.9 billion from US$8.2 billion in October, and their Gemini Space Station has cut roughly 25% of its workforce and is winding down some international operations. The Bitcoin slump has trimmed millions from donations to a new political fundraising group.
Coinbase’s stock is down about 1.66% for the year, and the broader crypto market has been in a sell-off since October. A portion of Coinbase’s subscription and services revenue is derived from stablecoin holdings and related platform activities. Galaxy Digital’s Michael Novogratz’s fortune fell to US$6.2 billion from a high of US$10.3 billion in October.
As co-founder and CEO, Novogratz owns about 51 per cent of the New York-based crypto company. Galaxy posted a greater-than-expected loss of about US$500 million amid the fourth-quarter crypto crash, prompting Novogratz to acknowledge in a Bloomberg interview that “part of the ethos of this whole industry is pain”. Strategy’s Michael Saylor also lost about two-thirds of his fortune since a July 2025 high and now stands at US$3.4 billion, according to the wealth index. The bulk of his wealth is tied to his 8 per cent stake in Strategy, which is one of the largest publicly traded owners of Bitcoin.
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