Even though the creator of the blockchain technology, Satoshi Nakamoto, hasn’t uncovered his real identity, there are many other people who work with this tech and regularly share valuable insights about it.
Below I list some of the best informed influencers in the blockchain industry as well as the ones moving it forward.
Vitalik Buterin and Joseph Lubin
Let’s start with the co-founders of the Ethereum blockchain. Their platform powers one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the world and is a go-to choice for running an ICO. While I’m writing this(25.12.2017), the market cap for Ethereum holds at $64.33bn. So we definitely have a thing or two to learn from these guys.
Vitalik Buterin is a 23 year old tech entrepreneur from Russia who started getting interested in blockchain all the way back in 2010 when it wasn’t mainstream at all. Soon he started writing about it on topical blogs and founded Bitcoin Magazine (which to this day has millions of monthly visitors).
After a while Vitalik became on of the biggest blockchain authorities and rising stars. In 2013 he wrote a white paper describing Ethereum and how it’s better than Bitcoin.This resulted in the Ethereum platform as we know it today.
Vitalik’s partner, Joseph Lubin is a serial entrepreneur who concentrates on blockchain businesses. He’s one of eight Ethereum co-founders and probably the most vocal one. He has access to valuable insights inside the industry some of which he shares in frequent interviews. He has a deep understanding of the blockchain ecosystem and eagerly shares his vision on where it’s going.
Vitalik and Joseph aim to build a decentralized alternative to the internet of today and seem to do a pretty good job at it. So I’d definitely recommend following them.
Nick Szabo
The word “visionary” in blockchain industry is often associated with the name Nick Szabo. And there’s plenty of reasons why.
For example, all the way back in 1996 Nick was the one to coin the term “smart contracts”. And in 1998 he designed a decentralized digital currency called Bit gold. Even though it was never implemented, it contained the mechanism and architecture for a digital cryptocurrency that was later used for Bitcoin. Many people even believe that Nick invented blockchain himself under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
To this day, Nick Szabo is one of leading blockchain, cryptography, cryptocurrency, and smart contracts experts. A good place to start getting acquainted with this titan on industry’s work is his interview with Tim Ferris and his blog Unenumerated.
Brian Armstrong
The boom of cryptocurrencies gave blockchain technology the traction needed to start conquering other business spheres. And that wouldn’t be possible without the trading platforms.
Meet Brian Armstrong, the founder of Coinbase. At the moment, it’s one of the biggest digital currency exchanges with over $50B+ in trades and $100m in investments. Coinbase already works in over 190 countries and counting.
It all started in 2010 when Brian got into blockchain and noticed that there’s no easy and secure way to trade Bitcoin. He saw the empty niche and used this opportunity to make blockchain industry a bit safer and more transparent; not to mention, to make a fortune.
Brian introduced millions of people to the world of crypto and is active on social media. He has a unique perspective on what’s happening with blockchain in general and on the cryptocurrencies market in particular.
Adam Ludwin
We’ve all heard that blockchain can do miracles for financial world in terms of safety. And Adam Ludwin is one of key entrepreneurs who actually makes this a reality.
Adam is the CEO of a blockchain tech company called Chain. The reason why it’s special is that they work with the industry giants like Visa and Nasdaq and successfully implement advanced solutions; for example, international blockchain-based payment services.
Due to Adam’s expertise and passion about blockchain, his posts about cryptocurrencies and blockchain get tens of thousands of likes and shares.
Perianne Boring
Perianne Boring is a popular speaker and the CEO of Chamber of Digital Commerce.
This former TV host and Forbes contributor became one of the most passionate blockchain enthusiasts, CEOs and activists.
Among other things, Perianne was the one to promote the blockchain technology in the US House of Representatives helping drive the conversation towards the legislation. For her achievements in public sphere and active position she was listed among 10 Most Influential People in Blockchain in 2016 and was named 2015’s Top Woman in Bitcoin.
In Chamber of Digital Commerce Perianne’s main goal is to promote the universal acceptance and use of blockchain-based technologies. She continues to play an active and growing role in the blockchain community so I’m happy to include her in this list.
Pieter Wuille
In a sphere like blockchain, the people who really make the change happen, are the programmers. For example, Bitcoin Core is the software run by more than 70% of all Bitcoin nodes and miners. Billions of dollars depend on quality and safety of its code.
Bitcoin Core was originally created Satoshi Nakamoto(the person behind blockchain). Now it’s maintained and improved by a team of enthusiasts and genius developers like Pieter Wuille.
Pieter’s also a co-founder of Blockstream. The company has some of the top blockchain minds on board with Wuille as the core-tech engineer. They raised $76m to further develop blockchain infrastructure as well as safer and more transparent financial networks.
Andreas M. Antonopoulos
One of the biggest problems with achieving mass adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrencies is the lack of education. People don’t understand this technology and therefore don’t accept it as the norm.
Andreas M. Antonopoulos is an entrepreneur, a coder and a speaker who fights this problem. He uses simple words to explain complex matters like blockchain, bitcoin, cybersecurity and smart contracts in videos, articles and conference speeches. He’s also the author of two extremely popular books devoted to bitcoin: “Mastering Bitcoin” and “The Internet of Money”.
Andreas plays a huge role in promoting and popularizing blockchain, making it accessible to more people each day. He also has a widespread network of connections in the industry and often shares his expertise online.
Barry Silbert
Barry is an extremely acclaimed entrepreneur and investor. Over the last years he’s been called entrepreneur of the year by Ernst & Young and Crain’s, and selected to Fortune’s “40 Under 40”.
As Silbert got more engaged by cryptocurrencies, he sold his company SecondMarket to Nasdaq, invested in a number of blockchain-based startups, and founded Digital Currency Group. DCG is a venture capital company that invests in projects related to digital currencies. Some of its subsidiaries include Coindesk(one of the most popular news sites devoted to digital currencies) and Greyscale(a digital currency investment company)
Barry Silbert is known for his keen understanding of investment space and the expertise regarding blockchain businesses which he regularly shares.
In conclusion
Blockchain is still a very young technology which evolves really fast. To stay up-to-date and get the right information in time, one needs to follow the right people. Follow influencers on this list to get the news from the experts directly involved in developing blockchain.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
