The increasing growth of cryptocurrencies and the dramatic increase in share prices added 493 new entries to Forbes Magazine’s list of billionaires, bringing the total to 2755 people. According to the most recent Forbes statistics, one billionaire was added to the Forbes list every 17 hours in 2020. Among the new entrants are 210 billionaires from Hong Kong and China. Furthermore, nearly 500 new billionaires and 250 rich people who were previously excluded from the list due to the loss of a portion of their capital have returned to the list of billionaires.
Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, topped the list for the fourth year in a row, with $177 billion, and Elon Musk came in second with $151 billion. The majority of the listed billionaires are Americans, as they have been in previous years, but Chinese billionaires (including Hong Kong nationals) are rapidly approaching the Americans. This list includes 724 Americans, while the number of Chinese and Hong Kong nationals has increased to 698. From $400 million in 2020 to $2.5 billion in 2021, the total wealth of technology titans has increased by 84%. The new list includes 365 technology owners, an increase of 124 names from the previous year’s list of 241. Following technological entities, the financial and investment services industry ranks second on this list with 371 representatives.