Billionaire founder of crypto exchange Binance says he's 'poor again' after its luna holdings — once worth $1.6 billion — crashed and are now worth just $2,200.

The founder of the exchange joked on Tuesday that he was poor again, after the exchange's investments in the lunacryptocurrencies crashed from $1.6 billion just a month ago to about $2,200 this week.

The world's largest digital currency exchange held 15 million luna token, according to Zhao. The Terra network that luna is based on was the reason for the $3 million investment by Binance. As of Monday, the luna token was never moved or sold.

Insider reached out to Zhao.

The luna holdings were worth $1.6 billion when they hit their peak price. The recent crash reduced that value to $2,200. As of Thursday, the coin was worth about $0.0001.

The value of Luna has plummeted in the past two weeks.

TerraUSD lost its peg to the US dollar two weeks ago. The two valuations are related. When TerraUSD's price fell, investors rushed to dump their holdings in a scenario similar to a bank run. The plunge of TerraUSD dragged down the price of luna.

According to Insider, the free fall of the two token wiped out more than $50 billion in paper value.

He urged the Terra team to reimburse its retail investors first.

Zhao, 45, definitely isn't broke despite his comments. He has a net worth of about $14.8 billion, according to the estimates by the company. According to Forbes, the majority of his wealth comes from his 70% stake in Binance.

Forbes reported in March that the market value of Binance is six times that of its nearest competitor. According to a report by financial-services consultancy Opimas., the trading fees for Binance were about $14.6 billion last year.