As crypto inches forward towards mass adoption, there are some people who play a key role in this process.
Either through improving existing crypto infrastructure, or onboarding corporations into the ecosystem. Some onboard new crypto users into the ecosystem in fun methods like NFT’s and gaming.
Let’s look at 10 key figures in the push towards crypto adoption.
1. CZ - CEO of Binance
He’s fast with sharing insights into the market, but he also regurlaly gives flimpses of what things are looking like behind the scenes.
Bonus points for sharing info when there’s a big hack or phising attack going on, and is quik to offer his help to the affected project(s).
2. Vitalik Buterin - Co-founder Ethereum and Bitcoin Magazine
Vitalik is arguably one of the most well-known people in crypto. And deservedly so!
He’s a true crypto OG, helping the space progress since it’s early days in 2011. He (co-)founded Ethereum, is there much more to say? It’s the second biggest crypto, most secure and decentralized Layer 1 with the most vibrant ecosystem.
Many projects have proclaimed themselves as the “Ethereum killer”, but so far none of them have been able to even come close to proving that statement.
3. Roham Gharegozlou - CEO of Dapper Labs, NBA TopShot, Flow Blockchain, Crypto Kitties.
As an individual, Roham is still quite underrated. I feel like most people don’t know the name or aren’t familiar with him. But, they undoubtedly know about the projects he is involved with.
Roham is the CEO of Dapperlabs, the company behind iconiq projects like Crypto Kitties, NBA Top Shot, Flow Blockchain, UFC Strike NFT.
4. Trung Nguyễn - CEO of Sky Mavis (the company behind Axie Infinity)
Trung felt inspired by Crypto Kitties (do you see the effect Roham has on the space!). Sky mavis released Axie Infinity in 2018 and it quickly became a play-to-earn (P2E) giant.
Ok, so who cares? How does this help crypto progress.
Well, impatient turtle, Axie has had a huge impact on the space. Not only as a GameFi giant, but also the projects that spawned after it.
If you fast forward back to 2022, we have a huge market of GameFi and P2E projects. A lot of them felt inspired by the succes of projects like Axie Infinity and Illuvium.
5. Mark Cuban / Kevin O'leary (Legendary investors and entrepeneurs, Shark Tank cast)
Most people know Cuban and Kevin (a.k.a. Mr. Wonderful) from their appearance on Shark Tank.
Cuban has been very vocal on how bullish he is on crypto; he said he is most excited about the implementation and use cases of smart contracts, NFTs and DAOs.
Kevin mentioned on CNBC he mentioned he has about 20% of his portfolio in crypto. Which is a mix of equity in crypto companies like FTX and actual tokens/coins.
Kevin doesn’t hide his opinions on the government printing money, and used it as part of his bull case for Bitcoin and crypto as a whole. He also mentioned that he’s fascinated by Polygon and the way they process transaction.
6. Brian Brook - CEO of BitFury Group
7. Bobby Ong and TM Lee - Co-founders CoinGecko
8. Joseph Lubin - Co-founder Ethereum, Counfder of ConsenSys
9. Cobie - Crypto OG, man of the people, perhaps the biggest influencer in the space.
Cobie’s not afraid to call out scams, bad actors, and things that just do not make any sense in the space. He has a knack for calling which narrative is or will be in play. Big fan of his substack page.
Cobie is a true OG in the space. He also runs his podcast “Up Only” together with Ledgerstatus.
10. Sam Bankman-Fried - CEO of FTX
Whatever personal opinion you have of Sam, you can’t argue that he has done a lot to increase awareness for crypto. Whether it’s sponsoring events, buying stadiums and renaming them, to sponsoring high profile celebs & other marketing stunts.
What are your thoughts on our list of key figures in the crypto space?
Curious to hear your thoughts! Do you agree with our list? Anyone you personally think deserves to be on this list?
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