By AsianMarketCap Official on The Capital
1. CHANGPENG ZHAO (CEO of Binance)
Age: 42
Place of Birth: China
Category: Founders, Exchanges
Known For: Rapidly scaling one of cryptocurrency’s largest exchanges
“I feel I’m really lucky to have the chance to be doing what we’re doing, which is to increase access to crypto, increase the freedom of money for people around the world. That is something I’m really energetic about doing. And I just feel lucky to be in a position to be able to do that.”
Short Bio:
Changpeng Zhao (aka “CZ”) launched Binance in July 2017 and has since grown it into the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange for retail investors. It’s a long way from when he was flipping burgers while studying at McGill in Montreal. In addition to steering Binance, CZ has also become a social media personality in his own right with his trademark “funds are safe” launched into the crypto-meme hall of fame.
2. DAVID MARCUS (Head of Calibra at Facebook)
Age: 46
Place of Birth: Paris, France
Category: Technology
Known For: Founding Facebook-led cryptocurrency project
“When we started this journey almost six months ago, the whole idea was not around a certain way of doing things, but more around [coming] together and [trying] to figure out how we solve a problem that is unacceptable — 1.7 billion people who are currently unbanked, another billion underserved.”
Short Bio:
Paris-born and Geneva-raised David Marcus has operated in executive roles for global-scale tech ventures, including PayPal and Facebook. Before his professional foray into the crypto industry, Marcus long had a reputation among the Silicon Valley elite as an early proponent of Bitcoin. While heading operations for Facebook Messenger, Zuckerberg tapped Marcus to lead Facebook’s research and development in blockchain and cryptocurrencies, resulting in the highly controversial Libra project.
3. KELLY LOEFFLER (Former CEO of Bakkt, US Senator for Georgia)
Age: 49
Place of Birth: Bloomington, USA
Category: Law and Politics
Known for: Founding Bitcoin Futures exchange, becoming a US senator
“The path to developing new markets is rarely linear: progress tends to modulate between innovation, dismissal, reinvention, and, finally, acceptance. Each step, whether part of discovery or adversity, ultimately strengthens the product.”
Short Bio:
Loeffler entered the crypto industry when she became CEO of Bakkt after her 15-year-long career at Intercontinental Exchange, an operator of large, regulated exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange. She supervised Bakkt’s delayed launch, which, albeit showing underwhelming results at first, proved to be efficient and therefore crucial for the crypto market. By the end of 2019, she became the first Republican woman to represent the state of Georgia in the U.S. Congress, where she is expected to support crypto-friendly regulation.
4. PAVEL DUROV (Founder and CEO of Telegram)
Age: 35
Place of Birth: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Category: Founders, Technology
Known For: Founding globally used encrypted messaging service
“If I see that Telegram needs more resources, I would happily invest more because I’m a person that prefers not to own any real estate.”
Short Bio:
Pavel Durov’s first major business, VK, permanently changed social networking throughout Russia and Eastern Europe. After exiting the company, Durov and his brother Nikolai launched an encrypted messaging app Telegram in August 2013. The app currently boasts a 200 million monthly user base. Now, Durov is making crypto headlines for his company’s embattled launch of its Telegram Open Network blockchain, which raised $1.7 billion in a pair of private token sales in early 2018.
5. VITALIK BUTERIN (Co-Founder of Ethereum)
Age: 26
Place of Birth: Kolumna, Russia
Category: Founders, Technology, Developers
Known For: Creating Ethereum
“I criticize DAO’s because I love them. On-chain algorithms open to vote probing…Plutocracy gives me heartburn.”
Short Bio:
A Russian-Canadian writer and programmer, Vitalik has been involved in the Bitcoin community since 2011, co-founding and writing articles for Bitcoin Magazine. He is primarily known as the inventor of Ethereum, a global blockchain network designed to run smart contracts and decentralized applications and currently the world’s second-most valued and recognized cryptocurrency platform behind Bitcoin. Currently, Buterin is focused on researching scaling solutions for Ethereum that would enable it to become a more ubiquitous computing and settlement platform.
6. BRIAN ARMSTRONG (Co-Founder and CEO of Coinbase)
Age: 37
Place of Residence: San Francisco, US
Category: Founders, Exchanges
Known For: Founding one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges
“There were over 379 articles written, prematurely declaring the end of Bitcoin. Not only did Bitcoin survive, it thrived, becoming the top-performing asset of the decade. The naysayers were proved wrong and we learned an important lesson about human nature: most big breakthroughs are contrarian ideas that people dismiss and ridicule at the start.”
Short Bio:
Brian Armstrong is a software engineer, consultant, risk manager, and crypto entrepreneur. Armstrong’s Bitcoin career started in 2012, when he became a co-founder and CEO of Coinbase — one of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency trading platforms, valued at over $1.6 billion. While mostly known for running Coinbase, he is also a co-founder for the GiveCrypto foundation, a charity that has raised $4 million in cryptocurrency donations for people living in poverty.
7. JOSEPH LUBIN (Co-Founder of Ethereum, Founder of ConsenSys)
Age: 55
Place of Birth: New York, US
Category: Technology, Investing
Known For: Founding Ethereum and Blockchain Startup Incubator ConsenSys
“Libra is like a centralized wolf in a decentralized sheep’s clothing.”
Short Bio:
A former Wall Street technologist and music management executive, Joseph Lubin has become one of the most influential people in the blockchain space. Formerly the chief operating officer at Ethereum, Lubin went on to found ConsenSys, a startup incubator, or “venture production studio,” consisting of a network of projects and teams building applications and infrastructure primarily for the Ethereum blockchain.
8. ELIZABETH STARK (CEO of Lightning Labs)
Age: 38
Place of Residence: San Francisco/New York
Category: Technology
Known For: Advocating an open internet, advancing scaling solutions for Bitcoin
“Most Bitcoin users in the future may not even know they’re using Bitcoin.”
Short Bio:
Elizabeth Stark is a blockchain entrepreneur, educator, and open-internet advocate. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she is a fellow at the Yale Information Society Project, a lecturer in computer science at Yale University, an adjunct associate professor at NYU and was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Stanford StartX. As a leader in the global free culture movement, Stark played an instrumental role in the internet freedom effort that defeated SOPA/PIPA, engaging 18 million people globally. Back in March 2018, the public beta Lightning Network was released, where she has been building a programmable financial layer for the internet through fast, scalable blockchain transactions.
9. BRAD GARLINGHOUSE (CEO of Ripple)
Age: 49
Place of Birth: Topeka, US
Category: Investing
Known For: Founding global cryptocurrency payments network, Ripple
“In the XRP community, Ripple is the largest owner. […] we are the most interested party in the success of the XRP ecosystem.”
Short Bio:
Since 2015, Brad Garlinghouse has been the CEO of Ripple and also sits on the firm’s board of directors. Prior to working at Ripple, Garlinghouse was the CEO of file collaboration service Hightail. Garlinghouse also served in senior positions at Yahoo and AOL and holds degrees from the University of Kansas and Harvard University. In addition to leading Ripple, Garlinghouse is also an angel investor in several firms including AI firm Diffbot and staffing platform Wonolo.
10. JUSTIN SUN (Founder of Tron, CEO of BitTorrent, Inc)
Age: 29
Place of Birth: Qinghai Province, China
Category: Founders
Known For: Founding Tron Blockchain network, acquiring and tokenizing BitTorrent
“Mr. President, you are misled by fake news. #Bitcoin & #Blockchain happens to be the best chance for the US! I’d love to invite you to have lunch with crypto leaders along with @WarrenBuffett on July 25. I guarantee you after this lunch, nobody will know crypto more than you!”
Short Bio:
Tron was launched in September 2017 by a Singapore-based nonprofit organization called the Tron Foundation. Tron is headed by CEO Justin Sun, who holds a master’s in East Asia studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s in history from Peking University. Tron has grown to become one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world.
Tron acquired BitTorrent in June 2018 to run the BitTorrent token, BTT. Sun has become one of the most controversial figures in the blockchain space, known for his elaborate marketing tactics. He recently announced a contest on Twitter to giveaway a Tesla, where he switched back and forth between winners. Sun also made headlines for scheduling and then later canceling a lunch meeting with billionaire Warren Buffet.
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Top Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Influencers was originally published in The Capital on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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