This year, crypto and other digital currencies have made breaking headlines, with some of them being rather controversial. Crypto CEOs and executives are among those who really went out of their way to put crypto in the limelight. What’s more? These big-tech executives rubbed shoulders with brands and bigwigs while also pivoting their mainstream careers to cryptocurrencies in order to cash in!
While surging inflation has compelled more investors to consider venturing into crypto as a potential hedge, many who’ve flocked in recently have been stung with steep losses. In this article, we will look at top crypto CEOs and executives who not only shape the decentralized space but also occasionally shock the industry with some not-so-smart statements and decisions.
Thus, for better or worse, you must go through the list of top crypto CEOs and executives to know their contributions and conflicts in the crypto industry. Because, who knows, who will make the next huge push in taking crypto space to new echelons?
1. Changpeng Zhao ‘CZ’
When we talk about top crypto CEOs, The name of Binance CEO ‘CZ’ can never go unmentioned. Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as ‘CZ’ is the founder and CEO of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and powered it to become the biggest crypto exchange by trading volume. It now handles some $13 billion in daily trading volume at the time of writing and has grown bigger than its four largest competitors combined. All this perfectly sums up its achievement in such a short span of time.
CZ, undoubtedly, has a huge following among crypto enthusiasts who always have an eye out for what his stance is on every market movement. For instance, the sudden collapse of the crypto exchange FTX prompted Binance CEO CZ’s decision to publish hot and cold wallet addresses and balances for its top six coins.
After several chaotic events happening in the crypto sphere, CZ understood the need for transparency, reassuring customers that the exchange has sufficient reserves. Zhao’s journey at Binance has been far from smooth sailing and the company has been embroiled in several controversies.
Despite all that, Binance emerged as the trusted platform for traders and investors, and that was partly because of CZ, who always had a strong opinion on whatever went on in the crypto industry.
2. Brian Armstrong
Brian Armstrong is the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase. He is top of mind for amateur crypto players who aspire to replicate his rapid ascent from programmer to one of the world’s wealthiest people.
He cut his teeth at Airbnb as a software engineer but made his name as the CEO of one of the largest crypto exchanges. Armstrong co-founded Coinbase in San Francisco in 2012 with former currency trader Fred Ehrsam.
He owns about 19% of Coinbase’s shares, while cofounder Fred Ehrsam left the company in 2017 but still owns 6%. However, Armstrong recently sold about $1.6 million worth of his holdings in the company.
Nevertheless, he will continue to serve as the CEO of Coinbase, and at the same time, he has always stayed super bullish on crypto and Coinbase.
3. Michael Saylor
During the past few months, many crypto CEOs at several prominent firms left their position but that doesn’t mean they haven’t once contributed to the industry. Here, we are talking about Michael Saylor, former executive chairman of Microstrategy which is the single largest corporate holder of Bitcoin with over 130,000 BTC in its coffers.
Microstrategy is not only a Bitcoin hoarding company but it also provides business intelligence, cloud-based services, and mobile software. Saylor founded the firm in 1989 and since then it has continued to grow as a globally trusted embedded analytics platform.
During his 33-year tenure as crypto CEO, he received a number of awards for his entrepreneurship. Though cryptocurrencies were on a bull run, they now face different challenges. Yet, this hasn’t stopped Michael Saylor from advocating Bitcoin.
Also Read: Michael Saylor Advocates Bitcoin Mining Against Critics
Of course, He’s a billionaire thanks to timely bitcoin investment. He even disclosed in October 2020, he personally bought 17,732 bitcoins for $175 million.
4. Mike Novogratz
One of the best-known crypto CEOs of the Internet bubble, Mike Novogratz is the founder and chief executive officer of Galaxy Digital, a financial services and investment management company.
Novogratz has been one of Bitcoin’s most faithful bulls through the years and continues raising awareness and pushing the mainstream adoption of the digital asset class. His expertise in cryptocurrencies always makes financial headlines.
The background of Mike Novogratz as a crypto executive adds authenticity to what he says in the crypto community. He was formerly a partner and president of Fortress Investment Group and prior to Fortress, he served 11 years at Goldman Sachs.
The experience he holds in the investment industry has further helped his followers to drive crypto adoption. Under his leadership, Galaxy Digital has established itself in all manner of crypto pursuits, spanning from coin ownership to establishing digital mining companies.
5. Justin Sun
Another influential personality in the list of Crypto CEOs and executives is Justin Sun, serial entrepreneur and the founder of TRON Foundation. He also serves as CEO of Rainberry Inc dba BitTorrent since June 2018.
In fact, his company Tron ran a TRX ICO token sale which was a huge success, raising approximately $70 million worth of ETH and BTC. Recently, Justin Sun has shown his optimism for Huobi tokens (HT) which hit an all-time-high after 21-month lows when he also announced his membership on Huobi’s global advisory board.
This young crypto executive previously founded Peiwo, a popular live chat App in China with over 100 million user base. He is famous for having a riskier approach to US and Chinese financial regulations.
After a dramatic FTX collapse, Justin Sun also came forward in creating a solution to initiate a pathway forward in the current market situation. Undoubtedly, he has never ceased to be a front figure whenever the crypto industry took a harsh turn.
6. Jack Dorsey
The highly influential voice in the technological industry is Jack Dorsey who is a co-founder and former CEO of Twitter. He continued to manage Twitter while also serving as the co-founder and CEO of Block (formerly called Square), a financial payments company.
However, Dorsey resigned as the Twitter CEO in November 2021 but kept on spearheading the Block until May 2022. Dorsey during all these years provoked his fair share of criticism and controversy but also made notable moves in crypto during 2020.
Block allocated $50 million to Bitcoin under the leadership of Dorsey and publicized its BTC purchase. Over the past two years, Jack Dorsey has fashioned himself as Bitcoin’s strong proponent and public defender.
He constantly has been seen promoting and sharing insights on crypto adoption. Dorsey’s net worth is $5.2 billion as of May 2022.
7. Sam Bankman-Fried
Sam Bankman-Fried is among those crypto CEOs who made numerous contributions to the crypto-verse but were ultimately washed up by the recent unfortunate fall of FTX. Sam Bankman-Fried, the owner of the ‘once’ second-largest crypto exchange FTX, caught everyone in the industry off-guard with the news of filing for bankruptcy in the US.
He then stepped down from his position but will assist in an orderly transition. However, we cannot overlook the fact that he is also the mastermind behind raising FTX above its rivals.
Though his own journey can easily be defined as “a rapid rise and a dizzying fall,” his scams and fraud are etched in stone for the whole community to remember as the worst downfall.
Undoubtedly, he once made FTX into a major presence in the DeFi market where the community regarded the exchange to be the first mover. FTX’s remarkable feat has been bridging the gap between sports and crypto in the US with several collaborations including Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association’s Miami Heat, and Formula 1 races.
However, now the future of these and many other sponsorship deals with collapsed FTX are hanging in the balance with millions of dollars at stake.
8. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz
Speaking about top crypto CEOs and executives, we can’t leave the two personalities, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. These are the names behind the successful private American venture capital firm A16Z (Andressen Horowitz), founded in 2009.
They focused their attention on tiny startups and turned them into multibillion-dollar businesses with enormous cultural and economic implications. A16Z emerged as one of Silicon Valley’s biggest boosters for years while also backing many of the world-beating startups of the past decade.
This includes Coinbase, GitHub, Stripe, Slack, and Airbnb. However, the firm’s founders are still active leaders in making strategies but now no longer involved in daily operations as they were in the early days.
9. Tyler Winklevoss
The versatile crypto CEO Tyler Winklevoss made his name as the founder and CEO of the crypto exchange Gemini and he is worth an estimated $4.3 billion.
However, he came into the spotlight for his involvement in the beginnings of Facebook, accusing Mark Zuckerberg of stealing his idea for a social network.
His twin brother Cameron Winklevoss serves as the president of Gemini. They both used some of their $65 million legal settlement with Facebook to start hoarding Bitcoin. Now, Gemini is listed among prominent crypto exchanges that today process about $200 million a day in trades.
He also shares his substantial insights into a wide range of burgeoning markets and entrepreneurial fields and is successfully leading Gemini in its endeavors since 2014.
