New super rich with bits and bytes

It is not so easy to be on the “300 richest” list in the “Balanza”. Still, ten newcomers have made it this year. What’s striking: Thanks to bits and bytes, some have made considerable fortunes at a young age. The world of digitization is collecting the list of the super-rich.

Ophelia Snyder (30) and Hany Rashwan (32)

The “balance sheet” estimates the assets of Ophelia Snyder of New York and Hany Rashwan, an Egyptian-American, to be approximately 1 to 1.5 billion francs. The two are among the most successful founders of the Swiss crypto scene. Their goal: to make cryptocurrencies widely accessible. They succeeded with the 21Shares initiative, a trading platform for cryptocurrency products. But this is not only lucrative, but also high-risk business. Fortune can also melt very quickly in this world.

Severin Hacker (37)

It is also possible to be more realistic in the digital world. Severin Hacker made his fortune, estimated at CHF 300 to 500 million, when he launched the language learning app Duolingo in the summer of 2021. Zuger is not concerned with making quick money, but making the best education in the world accessible to as many people as possible. That’s why he’s currently developing a math learning app.

Martin Blatter, Silvan Engeler and Manuel Kasper

Privacy isn’t just a priority in the world of the super-rich. Messenger service users also attach great importance to this. Ten years ago, Martin Blatter, Silvan Engeler and Manuel Kasper put the first version of the Threema messaging app on Apple’s App Store. Messages are sent completely anonymously between two chat partners via the company’s own servers. And after it is sent it is deleted from the servers. This discretion is valued by 11 million users, including many companies and the Swiss military. The app has so far brought fortunes of CHF 100 to 150 million to three young entrepreneurs.

castle family

Of course, making a lot of money can also be done in traditional viticulture. Here too, discretion plays an important role. The wealthiest newcomer, estimated at 12 to 13 billion francs, probably fell under the radar of “balance sheet” estimators because the Geneva tax authorities demanded Pierre Castel a 415 million francs past tax payment (96). The patron saint of the Castel wine empire has lived in Geneva in tax exile since 1981 and has probably been under the tax authorities’ radar for a long time.