Meet the richest bitcoin and crypto-billionaires who are worth more than $17 billion combined

• Forbes released its first-ever list of the richest billionaires in bitcoin and cryptocurrency on Wednesday.
• The majority of the list are the founders and CEOs of the biggest companies in blockchain technology.
• The people on the list are worth more than $17 billion and as much as $24 billion, though that number fluctuates daily with price swings in the crypto market.

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The life of a bitcoin and crypto-billionaire is stressful.

After seeing unprecedented gains over the last year, driving bitcoin, ethereum, and Ripple's XRP token up 1,300%, 8,000%, and 32,000% respectively, the last few weeks have seen a coming back down to earth.

As of Friday afternoon, bitcoin was down 28% since late January. On Monday, bitcoin hit $7,000, 64% down from its all-time high of nearly $20,000 in late December.

The total value of all digital currencies has dropped 61% from its January 7 peak at $826 billion to $320 billion as of Tuesday.

But don't tell that to the crypto-billionaires.

While stories abound of regular people making fortunes in crypto, the world's richest crypto and bitcoin-billionaires are primarily the people making the pans and shovels in the digital gold rush.

On Wednesday, Forbes Magazine released its first-ever list of the richest people in cryptocurrency, a similar list to its Forbes 400 annual list, which dates back to 1982. The numbers are estimates based on the price of cryptocurrencies as of January 19.

In his letter explaining why Forbes created the list, editor Randall Lane said such transparency could help the crypto industry move out of its shadowy beginnings to financial maturity.

Meet the kings of crypto and the world's richest bitcoin billionaires:

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