Starting To Follow Blockchain? Don’t Miss These 7 “Follows” On Twitter
The world of blockchain is moving faster than Bitcoin can validate a hash. It’s nearly impossible to keep up. What makes it difficult is the near infinite volume of articles, interviews, advertisements, and opinions on the subject. There’s no clear voice. No clear information. There’s not even a clear technology underpinning the evolution.
How are we supposed to make sense of it all?
Fortunately, the blockchain world is filled with some incredible minds — people worth listening to. In an effort to simplify a search to find these people, I have composed a list of valuable voices covering the most important development and trends in the blockchain space and community.
The list is not organized in any specific manner — I am not trying to say one voice is better than the other. And of course, it is not comprehensive, it’s missing people that others will find invaluable. But it is a good start and if you’re like me it may open up a few rabbit holes that will provide hours of Friday night entertainment.
Andreas Antonopoulos
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aantonop
Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/aantonop
Andreas Antonopoulos has become one of the most well-known authorities on Bitcoin and he’s written at length on the subject. In particular, if you’re just getting started, there are two articles you need to read from Andreas: “Mastering Bitcoin” and “The Internet of Money”
If you search YouTube for him, you’ll find him everywhere and his talks are a great place to tune into to get a deeper understanding of the context that surrounds cryptocurrency. You can also find him on the “Let’s Talk Bitcoin” podcast.
Vitalik Buterin
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vitalikbuterin
Vitalik is the Russian-Canadian co-founder and the main front man for Ethereum, which is both a platform and a cryptocurrency called ether. Ethereum is special because it’s one of the first blockchain protocols to gain heavy investment and adoption from companies like JP Morgan, Scotiabank, and Microsoft.
Nick Szabo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickszabo4
Nick Szabo is a computer scientist and cryptographer who is best known for his work on creating secure internet contracts called smart contracts. He’s been such an influence on the Ethereum team that they labelled a sub-unit of value token as a Szabo — just as Bitcoin has labelled a sub-unit of its cryptocurrency a Satoshi. Some speculate that Nick is Satoshi Nakamoto, a claim that he’s repeatedly denied. But he has been, and continues to be, a strong influence in the cryptocurrency space.
Erik Voorhees
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ErikVoorhees
Erik Voorhees is the CEO of Shapeshift. Erik is vocal on Twitter and shares a wealth of information for both crypto beginners and experts alike. Shapeshift is a great launchpad for discovering what cryptocurrencies are gaining traction in the space as well as getting a cutting-edge view of new and developing shifts in the blockchain industry.
Ari Paul
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AriDavidPaul
Ari Paul is co-founder and CIO of BlockTower Capital and a powerful voice in the crossover between blockchain technology and investing. Ari’s portfolio management background for the University of Chicago’s $8 billion endowment, and a derivatives market maker and proprietary trader for Susquehanna International Group gives the industry an important voice in evaluating blockchain technology as an investment opportunity.
Patrick O’Shaughnessy
Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrick_oshag
Blog: http://investorfieldguide.com/podcast/
The crypto world knows Patrick as curator of the wildly popular podcast called “Hash Power 1,2,3” that discusses blockchains, cryptocurrency investing and what the future holds. The podcast features a more comprehensive list of “who’s who” of crypto thought leadership. Oh, and by the way, when he’s not running his podcast, Patrick “moonlights” as CEO of the $7B investment firm O’Shaughnessy Capital Management
Jameson Lopp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lopp
Blog: https://lopp.net
Jameson has been speaking publicly for several years to convey the operations of public crypto asset systems in terms understandable by laymen. Any online guide showing you “where to start” in blockchain will certainly include a reference to some of Lopp’s YouTube videos, interviews or presentations — most of which can be found on his blog.
Depending on your view of the glass being half full or half empty, getting an education in blockchain development can be wildly fun or begrudgingly tenuous. The one thing this world does require is a bit of self-education to start your understanding of the ecosystem, development trends and investment opportunities. Self-education can be especially intimidating, but without knowledge you are leaving yourself open to missing out on what might be the greatest wealth generating opportunity since the early days of the internet and being ripped off by malicious operators — not to mention how cool it is to impress your kids’ friend’s parents at the soccer game. Yeah, maybe not.
There’s a whole lot of great and influential people working hard to ensure blockchain technology meets its full potential. Whenever you get concerned about the future of the blockchain, rest easy; think of the countless venture capitalists, CEOs, software developers, cryptographers and internet pioneers that stand behind it.
Shawn Lucas is founder and CEO of Apiary Fund. Through technology and education, Apiary Fund develops traders and gives people the opportunity to seek the freedom of flexible income by trading with Apiary’s money.
