This 39-year-old just became a billionaire after stunning Wall Street debut
The two own a combined majority stake in Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange Bullish, which raised $US1.1 billion at a $US5.4 billion valuation in an IPO on Wednesday, bringing their holdings to more than $US3 billion each. The company saw its shares more than double from the $US37 offering price to $US83.83 at 2:43 p.m. in New York.
Co-founder and board member Blumer, 39, is the largest individual shareholder with a 30.1 per cent stake worth $US3.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He's granted call options to third parties on about 5 per cent of his holdings, which could reduce the value of his position depending on the details of the arrangements, which weren't disclosed in company filings.
Yuan, who serves on Bullish's board, owns a 26.7 per cent stake worth $US3.1 billion.
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A spokesperson for the Cayman Islands-based company, which is also the owner of media outlet CoinDesk, didn't respond to a request for comment on the pair's net worth.
Bullish is the latest in a series of crypto-related IPOs this year that have generated 10-figure windfalls for company insiders. Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group jumped 168 per cent on its first trading day in June and has since added to those gains, bringing co-founder Jeremy Allaire's net worth to $US3.3 billion, according to Bloomberg's wealth index. Brokerage app Webull., which offers predictions bets on crypto prices and has said it plans to reintroduce crypto trading to its platform for US users this quarter, gained more than 500 per cent in its first two days of trading, minting billion-dollar fortunes for both its co-founders.
Early backing
Bullish was launched in 2021 with the backing of Block.one, another crypto business Blumer co-founded with early support from billionaire investors including Thiel and Mike Novogratz. Block.one raised $US4.2 billion in 2018 from selling its proprietary tokens — called EOS — in what remains the largest initial coin offering to date. A subsequent stock buyback valued the firm at about $US2.3 billion and delivered seed-stage investors returns of more than 6,500 per cent.
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