CoinDesk Unveils 2020 Most Influential List
Partners with Nifty Gateway and The Giving Block for NFT portraits to benefit charity
December 8, 2020 — Digital financial news leader CoinDesk has announced its 2020 “Most Influential” list, highlighting unique individuals who helped the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry break new ground this year.
The list, released today with a CoinDesk Live event on CoinDesk.com, YouTube and Twitter, was chosen by editorial staff and readers through a survey.
Most Influential features pioneers like Juan Benet (who launched Filecoin this year), Andre Cronje (a prime mover in the emergence of decentralized finance), and Amiti Uttarwar (the first female Bitcoin Core developer).
In addition, CoinDesk also recognizes Balaji Srinivasan for early and prescient calls to take COVID-19 seriously, and Linda Lacewell, the head of the New York State Department of Financial Services, for an open approach to crypto regulation.
Also part of the celebration are Michael Saylor, who started the trend of listed companies buying bitcoin for treasury management, and Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell, for winning a banking license in Wyoming.
To celebrate the winners, CoinDesk commissioned original artwork from seven noted digital artists. Nifty Gateway will auction off the NFT versions of the pieces, with 50% of the proceeds going to charities chosen by the artists, under an arrangement with cryptocurrency donations company The Giving Block.
Collectors will be able to bid on 12 unique 1-of-1 portraits of this year’s honorees, created by leading cryptocurrency artists like Alotta Money, XCopy, Osinachi, Matt Kane, Sarah Zucker, Yonat Vaks, and Olive Allen.
Proceeds of the auction, which will run from December 8th at 1:00PM ET to December 31 at 3 pm ET, will go to charities like the Rainforest Foundation, No Kid Hungry, The Bail Project, Gamers Outreach, International Medical Corps, She’s the First, and SOS Children’s Villages.
“We’re thrilled to be a part of this year’s Most Influential series, giving collectors the opportunity to own a unique piece of digital art that looks back on a historical year for the crypto industry while giving back to the community around them,” said Nifty Gateway co-founder Duncan Cock Foster.
“CoinDesk’s Most Influential series is now in its seventh year and we’re proud to partner with The Nifty Gateway and The Giving Block,” said Ben Schiller, CoinDesk’s features and opinion editor. “It’s fun to recognize these unique individuals with profiles, videos and this artwork and we hope readers want to bid on these lovely NFTs. They are all for good causes.”
“The NFT community has been incredibly generous when it comes to supporting amazing causes. Our first few NFT auctions have raised a combined $50,000+ for participating nonprofits. We’re excited to be working with the Nifty Gateway and CoinDesk team again to raise money for seven great causes,” said Alex Wilson, Co-Founder, The Giving Block.
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About Nifty Gateway
Nifty Gateway is a centralized, USD-based marketplace for buying and selling Nifties. Nifty Gateway partners with leading artists and brands to create collections of limited edition, high quality Nifties, exclusively available on our platform. Founded by Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster, Nifty Gateway was acquired by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini in 2020.
About CoinDesk
Founded in 2013, CoinDesk is the media platform for the next generation of investors exploring how cryptocurrencies and digital assets are contributing to the evolution of the global financial system. Its mandate is to inform, educate, and connect the global investment community through news, data, events and education.
About The Giving Block
The Giving Block was founded in 2018 after seeing hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto being donated to the few nonprofits that were equipped to accept those donations. Their mission is to ensure that nonprofits from all sectors are equipped to accept cryptocurrencies and are connected with those in the crypto community who wish to donate. They achieve this with their founders’ wealth of experience in cryptocurrency as well as nonprofit fundraising and operations.
