Brian Armstrong and CZ have suffered net worth losses of 11.8% and 5.1%, respectively, after the SEC sued Coinbase and Binance.
According to information from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes, Armstrong’s net worth dropped by $289 million and Zhao’s by $1.33 billion in a matter of 30 hours after the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance on June 5 and subsequently Coinbase on June 6.
Even though the CEO of Binance has had an almost 106% increase in his net worth this year, his wealth is still down more than 73% from its peak of $96.9 billion in January 2022.
Armstrong, who according to Forbes is the 1,409th richest person, suffered the greatest loss from the SEC’s most recent action, seeing his net worth drop by 11.8% to $2.2 billion.
With a 61% gain in net worth since that time, the CEO of Coinbase has been able to benefit from a market recovery this year.
Despite the recent decline, Zhao and Armstrong’s net worth has grown by far more than the 9% year-to-date gains for other people on Bloomberg’s wealthy list.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Coinbase and Binance, claiming that both exchanges violated many securities laws, most notably by allegedly providing cryptocurrencies that the SEC views as unregistered securities.
The SEC has now classified a total of 67 cryptocurrencies as securities as a result of the complaints.
Both Binance and Coinbase have stated they will “vigorously” defend themselves in any legal actions brought against them.
