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Crypto Rich: 6 Tycoons Taking the World by Storm
The cryptocurrency market is incredibly volatile but grippingly interesting at the same time. To be successful in this arena it’s a must for traders to stay on-trend with the latest developments and events. What better way, than following the very people who are passionate about the world of crypto and blockchain.
Have you started wondering who these people might be? Following on from the 6 Leading Bitcoin Investors here we take a look at the top 6 crypto influencers of today.
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Vitalik Buterin – Founder of Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin needs no introduction to anyone engrossed in the crypto realm. However, what you may not know is that this crypto mastermind is a true child prodigy. At the tender age of 7, Buterin wrote his very first computer game using Excel macros, which spurred him on to study C++ and at 10 he began developing fully-fledged games.
His love affair with blockchain began as young as 17, when Buterin started writing for Bitcoin Weekly, soon after going on to co-found Bitcoin Magazine. The Russian Canadian programmer rose to stardom as the creator of Ethereum the world’s second-largest digital currency. The motivation for which came as he observed limitations with Bitcoin.
More recently the crypto legend can be found researching and proposing privacy and scaling solutions for ETH, while the next anticipated phase of Ethereum (dubbed Ethereum 2.0) is in motion.
One thing for certain, the prolific writer continues to be a great source of wisdom for every crypto enthusiast, via his own blog and Twitter.
David A. Marcus – Head of Calibra at Facebook
Paris-born and Geneva-raised David Marcus is the man leading Facebook’s audacious step into the financial sphere. In the past, Marcus was a director at the global-scale tech venture, PayPal. Furthermore, he had a long-standing reputation among Silicon Valley’s elite as an early advocate of Bitcoin. Marcus can also be found on the board of directors of exchange giant Coinbase.
Marcus began studying blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and since 2018 has been a key figure in facebook’s blockchain business. More recently heading up the Calibra project. A project that has undeniably welcomed mixed sentiment. The Libra initiative has been one of the most controversial blockchain projects to have evolved. On one hand, some branding it as a revolution in blockchain technology, while others view it as a threat to its ambiguity and decentralization. Read more about the libra project here. Calibra will continue to add excitement within the crypto space and we expect that Marcus will be front and center.
Kelly Loeffler – Former CEO of Bakkt
Kelly Loeffler spent 25 years moving around the U.S building her career in financial services. She made her mark on the crypto industry when she became CEO of Bakkt, following a 15-year spell at Intercontinental Exchange. During her tenure at the U.S exchange, she played a crucial role in the company becoming a Fortune 500. Moreover, in less than 2 years she successfully grew Bakkt from one employee (herself) to 70. The female protagonist broke barriers in both business and sports when she became one of Georgia’s most successful businesswomen.
In 2019 Loeffler hung up her private sector boots to serve as a U.S Senator. As the first Republican woman to represent the state of Georgia, Kelly is expected to support crypto-friendly regulation
Changpeng Zhao – Founder of Binance
Changpeng Zhao or CZ is unquestionably one of the most prominent figures to grace the crypto industry. CZ is the founder and CEO of Binance, a crypto exchange that sky-rocketed to the world’s largest in just under 180 days.
Zhao’s once flipped burgers while studying at McGill in Montreal. However, from the beginning of his career, CZ specialized in trading working across IT departments of the NY Stock Exchange and later moved on to Bloomberg to develop a service for traders. Today, he has propelled as one of the richest representatives of the crypto industry with a real-time net worth is over $1.2B, the first billion of which he made in less than 6 months.
CZ has developed an impressive following online where traders can feast on hundreds of articles and stay up to date on everything crypto.
Pavel Durov – Founder of VK & Telegram
Pavel Durov has been a key player in the social networking arena. He is the founder of Vkontakte and more recently encrypted messaging service Telegram. At the young age of 22 years, Pavel was changing the landscape of Russian Social media, with some characterizing him as the Russian Zuckerberg. Disagreements began to emerge with shareholders and after 6 years he was forced to leave VK. This led him to focus his efforts on telegram, the project that brought him worldwide fame.
Up until about 2 years ago, the crypto star was relatively unknown. However. in 2018 Pavel and his brother Nikolai raised $1.7B from investors to build Telegram Open Network (TON). It was said that TON was to be faster and more efficient than bitcoin, and Ethereum. However, the project was not without its battles, and in May of this year, Durov pulled the plug on the blockchain platform and the linked Gram tokens. Despite its failure, it paves its way for future innovation and Durov remains a firm believer and wishes success for those brave enough to take it on.
Brian Armstrong – Co-founder of Coinbase
CEO and Co-founder of America’s largest crypto exchange, Coinbase. Brian Armstrong has been a pioneer in changing how retailers, customers, and investors manage and use cryptocurrency. Another early adopter, his interest stems back as far as high school. He began studying Java and CSS programming languages from a young boy, later graduating with 2 degrees in computer science and economics. Then, paving his success journey working for big corporate players as a programmer.
In 2012 he made the decision to sail the ship alone, launching Coinbase. In just 8 years he has grown the platform to one of the most popular for exchanging money and cryptos. A man of many words, his vision has a huge impact on traders across all financial markets. His array of opinions, rich news discussions, and deep understanding keeps fans flocking.
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