Let’s imagine a situation where you are the president of a certain country, with power, legislation and resources in your hands. But one day, a private jet arrives in your country and a billionaire gets off, with a wealth equal to or even exceeding the entire economic potential. And the question arises: if he has more money than the country, is he more important than its president?

In fact, this is not a fictional situation, but a true reality of the 21st century. The world has changed, and today individuals possess wealth that dwarfs the economies of entire countries. Yes, GDP is not exactly a country’s wallet, but rather an indicator of its economic activity and potential. However, by comparing the wealth of billionaires to a country’s GDP, we are actually comparing the personal budget of an individual with the annual income of an entire country. While this comparison is not perfect, it is revealing. It opens the door to understanding a new reality: if wealth is power, then who really rules the world today?

1. Jeff Bezos — an American businessman known primarily as the founder of Amazon. After leaving the company, he decided to focus on other ambitious projects, such as the space company Blue Origin and The Washington Post.

As befits one of the richest men on the planet, Bezos’ lifestyle matches his financial means. His high-profile spending has been repeatedly reported in the global media: for example, he bought three adjoining apartments in New York for around $80 million, as well as a private Gulfstream G650ER jet for $65 million. At the same time, his most interesting purchase was a watch that has been ticking for a hundred years.

As of today, Bezos’s wealth is estimated at $226 billion, which is even more than Hungary’s annual GDP ($212.4B). It seems that if Hungary were a product on Amazon, Bezos could simply put it in his basket.

Fun fact: Did you know that Jeff Bezos made a cameo appearance in the film ‘Star Trek: Beyond’?

2. Mark Zuckerberg — an American entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, the company behind Facebook. Zuckerberg decided that wasting energy on small decisions was not for him, so he sticks to a simple style of clothing: usually plain grey T-shirts or hoodies. The entrepreneur is a big fan of Iron Man, so, inspired by the coolness of Tony Stark, he created his own home AI assistant named Jarvis, voiced by the legendary Morgan Freeman.

Together with his wife Priscilla Chan, the billionaire purchased more than 1,300 hectares of land on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, spending more than $170 million. He even built a wall around the area, which gave rise to many jokes and memes about Zuckerberg trying to create his own country.

Today, Zuckerberg’s net worth is estimated at around $229 billion, which is almost as much as the GDP of New Zealand ($252 billion) or even more than the GDP of Qatar ($213 billion). Just imagine: he could buy all of Qatar’s infrastructure and still have enough money left over to create several metaverse worlds. Or he could completely renovate New Zealand to match his vision of Meta.

3. Bill Gates — co-founder of Microsoft, philanthropist and investor, is not only one of the most influential people in the world, but also a connoisseur of luxury. His $125 million Xanadu 2.0 estate in Medina, Washington, is the largest private home in the United States. Spanning 6,000 square metres, it has 24 bathrooms, a huge library, a home cinema, a swimming pool with underwater music, and even a trampoline room.

However, this is not Gates’ only luxury purchase. For example, in 1994, the investor purchased the Leicester Codex, a 500-year-old notebook by Leonardo da Vinci filled with scientific ideas and sketches. He is also the owner of a rare Porsche 959, the importation of which to the United States once required lobbying for changes in legislation due to the car’s non-compliance with safety standards.

His $175 billion net worth is almost equivalent to the economy of a medium-sized country, as it is close to the GDP of Morocco ($144.4B) or even Slovakia ($132.9B). If Gates wanted to, he could draw up a ‘state budget’ in his own kitchen.

4. Volodymyr Nosov — Founder and President of WhiteBIT Group, which has managed to create the largest crypto platform in Europe by traffic. Instead of the typical ‘toys for billionaires,’ Nosov often directs his large expenditures to charitable projects. For example, he once bought a Eurovision trophy won by the Kalush Orchestra for almost $900,000.

In addition, in one of his interviews, he also admitted that he is a passionate car collector. So, deciding to combine business with pleasure, Nosov spent $11 million on charity, adding Freddie Mercury’s legendary Rolls-Royce to his collection. But his ambitions did not stop there — he even took a decisive step into the world of sports by purchasing a football club.

His wealth is estimated at around $1.5 billion, which is roughly equal to the GDP of the Solomon Islands ($1.6 billion). And for that matter, he could easily create his own ‘decentralised paradise’ on a tropical island somewhere if he so desired.

5. Fred Ehrsam — an American entrepreneur, co-founder of Coinbase and Paradigm, and currently CEO of Nudge. While working as a trader at Goldman Sachs, the entrepreneur came across a research article about bitcoin by a Georgetown University professor. Interested in the asset’s potential, he started trading in his spare time, which was the beginning of his journey into crypto.

In addition to business, Ersam has a gaming background: he spent hours playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, America’s Army, and World of Warcraft. It was in WoW that he spent thousands of hours as a member of the top team and was first introduced to the phenomenon of digital currencies that functioned in the game. In one of his interviews, Ersam humorously recalled that the most expensive thing he ever bought was a $19,000 car purchased in 2012.

Today, his net worth is estimated at $2.93 billion, which is more than the GDP of the entire Burundi ($2.6 billion). And if one day Ersam wants to, he can easily cover all the expenses of this country — from road construction to school education — and still have money left over for a Tesla Cybertruck.

6. Michael Saylor — Chairman of MicroStrategy and one of the most ardent supporters of Bitcoin. It was his firm stance on the crypto asset that inspired other companies such as Tesla and Square to invest in BTC.

In 2023, an unexpected trend emerged on TikTok: it turned out that many men regularly think about the Roman Empire. Michael Saylor is no exception. He is a passionate collector of ancient Greek and Roman coins and owns one of the world’s largest private collections of more than 3,000 pieces.

In addition to investing and crypto activism, Sailor is actively involved in philanthropy. He has donated millions of dollars to charitable initiatives, with a particular focus on education: he supports schools, universities, and educational foundations. He also owns a yacht named USHER — not after the singer, but after the software.

With a net worth of $2.5 billion, Sailor is even ahead of the GDP of the Seychelles ($2.1 billion). It seems that he can afford not only to ‘hodl’ but also to literally ‘hold the whole island’.

7. Justin Sun — the founder of TRON and owner of Huobi and Poloniex — is known not only for his ambitions in the crypto industry but also for his passion for art. His collection is truly impressive: from Maurizio Cattelan (Comedian — a banana duct-taped to a wall, for which Sun paid $6.2 million) to iconic works by Alberto Giacometti (Le Nez — $78.4 million), Picasso (Femme nue couchée au collier — $20 million) and Andy Warhol (Three Self-Portraits — $1.5 million). To all this is added his ambitious idea to tokenise masterpieces through the JUST NFT Fund.

Like many of us, he sometimes misses important events. For example, in 2021, Sun won an auction for a space flight with Blue Origin for $28 million, but never flew due to banal scheduling issues.

In the end, Justin Sun’s net worth is estimated at $1.8 billion, which is comparable to the GDP of an entire country such as San Marino ($1.8 billion). And if one day he wants to throw a world-class party, this country could be a good option for rent.

8. The Winklevoss Twins — famous brothers, founders of the Gemini crypto exchange and one of the first crypto billionaires. They were among the first to openly declare their wealth gained through cryptocurrency and coined the phrase ‘Bitcoin billionaires’, which has become a symbol of a new generation of investors. After a high-profile lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg, in which they accused him of stealing the Facebook idea, the brothers received $65 million in compensation. Later, they invested part of this amount in Bitcoin, which brought them billions of dollars in future profits.

In addition, they invested in a number of other cryptocurrency companies, including mining company Marathon Digital Holdings, crypto wallet developer Ledger, and Coinbase, investing $100 million in 2017.

Today, the personal wealth of each of the brothers is estimated at $2.7 billion. For comparison, if you add up their wealth together, it is most of Sierra Leone’s GDP ($6.4 billion). If you imagine this country as a small island on the map of the global economy, the Winklevoss are two huge yachts that sail freely in the crypto-ocean of wealth.

In a world where the wealth of individuals exceeds the budgets of entire countries, power is no longer a matter of positions and titles — it is now in wallets. When personal wealth begins to eclipse the economic potential of states, the question of the true masters of the world becomes rhetorical. And then the question arises: are states ready for an era in which Justin Sun can have more influence than the prime minister?