Cointelegraph Top 100

Bitcoin takes the prize as the No. 1 leading player in the crypto and blockchain space on Cointelegraph’s 2023 Top 100 list.

Who takes the cake as the prime mover of the crypto and blockchain sector for 2023? The answer is more of a “what” than a “who.” Good Ol‘ Bitcoin, the industry’s pioneer cryptocurrency, sits atop the list as the most impactful player in the space on the Cointelegraph Top 100. 

Bitcoin (BTC) was created following the 2008 global financial crisis with the goal of doing things differently — in a decentralized fashion requiring less trust than traditional finance. But the cycle has made a full circle, and global financial trouble has once again reared its head, begging the question of whether the current economic uncertainty will take Bitcoin into the mainstream.

DISCOVER COINTELEGRAPH’S TOP 100 IN CRYPTO AND BLOCKCHAIN 2023

The industry has grown since Bitcoin was first launched in 2009, with countless assets, concepts, products and companies emerging in the years since. But the original cryptocurrency has stood the test of time and only become more prominent, despite the years of ups and downs. It has refused to die, driven by its decentralization and the community’s trust.

Coming out of 2021 — a year of all-time highs — Bitcoin’s price had a difficult 2022, falling from above $47,000 to below $17,000. However, the world at large also faced a challenging year, with mainstream financial markets suffering as well. Additionally, the broader crypto space took numerous blows amid a difficult bear market that witnessed the collapse of multiple entities. But Bitcoin is still moving forward in 2023, proving it will take more than than a bear market and global troubles to slow its progress.

Since the start of February, Cointelegraph has, bit by bit, been releasing its 2023 Top 100 list of the heroes and villains that most drove the crypto and blockchain sector in 2022 and will likely continue doing so in the year ahead. The list includes profiles for an array of industry players, including artificial intelligence at No. 93, Terraform Labs co-founder and CEO Do Kwon at No. 81, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele at No. 69, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin at No. 2, and many others.

So, what will the year ahead have in store for Bitcoin and the rest of those comprising Cointelegraph’s 2023 Top 100? It’s up to the heroes and villains now, so take a look at their profiles and discuss what their futures may hold!

Take a look at the No. 2 entry on Cointelegraph’s 2023 Top 100 list: Vitalik Buterin.

Cointelegraph has reached the No. 2 spot on its 2023 Top 100 list: Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who had a significant impact in 2022 and is expected to continue influencing the crypto space in 2023. Sitting among a sizable list of other co-founders of the Ethereum blockchain, Buterin was the one who wrote its white paper.

DISCOVER COINTELEGRAPH’S TOP 100 IN CRYPTO AND BLOCKCHAIN 2023

Ethereum has since gone on to become a dominant force in the crypto space, with two other co-founders also sitting high atop Cointelegraph’s 2023 Top 100 — Polkadot co-founder Gavin Wood at No. 5 and ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin at No. 15.

The Ethereum blockchain itself captured headlines in September 2022 due to the anticipation and completion of the Merge — an event that finalized its transition from a proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus. Carried out with help from Buterin and others, the transition to PoS means the blockchain should now require significantly less energy than it did with its previous PoW mining.

Cointelegraph has produced its Top 100 list every year since 2020, and Buterin has held a position on the list each year. He sat at No. 5 in 2020, fell to No. 12 in 2021, and then came in at No. 21 in 2022. This year, he is back and ranked higher than ever at No. 2.

Cointelegraph has now published its entire 2023 Top 100 list except for the No. 1 spot, from Digital Fashion at No. 100 to Buterin at No. 2. It has included all sorts of players, from entities and people to concepts. Any guesses on the No. 1 spot for the biggest industry driver? Find out soon.

Cointelegraph’s Top 100 for 2023 has reached the finals, with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao taking the third spot.

Cointelegraph kicks off the final three spots in its annual Top 100 list, revealing each of the top 3 individually. Taking the No. 3 spot is Binance founder and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. Zhao leads one of the crypto industry’s largest organizations, Binance — a crypto exchange that has its hand in several other industry endeavors. Zhao took the No. 51 spot on Cointelegraph’s 2022 Top 100 list. The CEO has talked favorably about decentralization, despite Binance being a major player in the centralized crypto exchange space.

DISCOVER COINTELEGRAPH’S TOP 100 IN CRYPTO AND BLOCKCHAIN 2023

CZ had a big year in 2022, finding himself caught up in industry turmoil during the collapse of crypto giant FTX. Just before FTX imploded, Binance started to offload roughly $600 million worth of FTX Token (FTT) — FTX’s native token. Binance also faced regulatory challenges in 2022. The exchange has various regional offices but is yet to publicly reveal an official headquarters and commit to a specific jurisdiction, attracting questions from regulators in different jurisdictions.

In recent weeks, Cointelegraph has unveiled its list of the most impactful players in the crypto space,  publishing the compilation in batches of 10 and counting down from 100. Each person, entity or concept holding a position on the list comes with a profile and analysis of that player’s year ahead. In contrast to previous years, Cointelegraph included the most dastardly villains alongside heroes on its 2023 list, given their significant impact in the crypto and blockchain sector.

Cointelegraph has revealed 98 of the industry’s top movers and shakers so far, as voted for by readers and staff. The list includes BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes at No. 92; MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor at No. 14; concepts such as hardware wallets; organizations like the Central Bank of Nigeria; pseudonymous crypto personalities, such as Cobie; and an expansive selection of CEO’s, founders and more.

Next, Cointelegraph will reveal the No. 2 spot, followed by the big finale, completing the 2023 Top 100 people in crypto. Who will take the top spot? Stay tuned to find out!

Given the hints below, guess who makes the top 10 in Cointelegraph’s Top 100 for 2023, with profiles 4–10 now published.

Feb. 21 lifts the curtains on numbers 4–10 of the most impactful crypto and blockchain sector players, according to Cointelegraph’s 2023 Top 100 list.

The controversial player at No. 10 was not on Cointelegraph’s Top 100 list for 2022, nor were the players occupying No. 9, 8 and 4. The person who takes the ninth spot on the list shares the same first name as the cotton gin inventor, while No. 8 relates to a country frequently in the news in 2022. No. 4 is a concept that prefers to be kept confidential. The seventh, sixth and fifth positions are players who made Cointelegraph’s 2022 Top 100 list, each significantly higher on the 2023 edition. Try to guess who the players are or check the list to find out!

DISCOVER COINTELEGRAPH’S TOP 100 IN CRYPTO AND BLOCKCHAIN 2023

Over the past few weeks, Cointelegraph has published its 2023 Top 100 lineup of the crypto sector’s biggest heroes and villains who had the biggest impact on the sector in 2022 and will likely make the biggest splash in 2023. The Top 100 has been unveiled in segments, counting down from 100 in batches of 10.

Outside the top 10, the list included names such as 21Shares co-founder and CEO Hany Rashwan, at No. 91; ARK Invest founder, CEO and chief investment officer Cathie Wood at No. 76; United States Senator Cynthia Lummis at No. 32; OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman at No. 22; and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler at No. 11.

The heroes and villains compilation also included companies, such as Epic Games at No. 57, and concepts, such as hardware wallets (No. 65) and staking (No. 58).

All but the top three rankings from Cointelegraph’s 2023 Top 100 are now revealed. The final three profiles will be unveiled over the next few days. Who’s left that could make the top three?

The next group of Cointelegraph’s Top 100 includes some top executive brass, such as the CEOs of Crypto.com and Lightning Labs.

Since Feb. 8, Cointelegraph has been publishing its annual Top 100 list of the most notable crypto players for 2023 in batches of 10. The list compiles the most daring heroes and dastardly villains of 2022 who are expected to continue impacting the crypto space in 2023, and it has so far included names such as Keith Grossman, MoonPay’s president of enterprise, at No. 89; hacking cohort Lazarus Group as a villain at No. 79; and Adam Back, Blockstream’s co-founder and CEO, at No. 72 — among others.

DISCOVER COINTELEGRAPH’S TOP 100 IN CRYPTO AND BLOCKCHAIN 2023

Rankings 41–50 went public on Feb. 15, sporting another batch of the industry’s leading drivers. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez took position No. 47, while the twin co-founders of Gemini — Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss — came in at No. 45. Custodia Bank CEO Caitlin Long holds the No. 41 position.

On Feb. 16, profiles 31–40 were released. At No. 40, Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek rounds out this batch of top crypto industry players. Crypto.com had an eventful year, including touting a Shopify partnership, although i also struggled during the bear market, moving to cut its employee count. Cointelegraph’s 2022 Top 100 list ranked Marszalek at No. 12, notably higher than his No. 40 position for 2023.

Lightning Labs co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Stark bookends this batch of profiles at No. 31. Lightning Labs oversees the Bitcoin scaling solution Lightning Network, which had a solid year in terms of growth and usage. In contrast to Marszalek, Stark has moved up in rank, rising from No. 61 on 2022’s Top 100. Other names in this round include Offchain Labs co-founder and CEO Steven Goldfeder, Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov, and others.

Cointelegraph’s annual Top 100 list features both heroes and villains, given that both move the sector in one way or another. The countdown continues, with more profiles to be released in the coming days, leading up to the big reveal of the top-ranked player. Who will the top 30 include?

Cointelegraph has compiled its annual list of the 100 biggest players in the crypto and blockchain space.

After a turbulent 2022 in the crypto sector, people are hoping for brighter times in 2023. For the fourth consecutive year, Cointelegraph is unveiling its list of the Top 100 most influential in the crypto and blockchain space, weighing the impact of 2022 and the potential ahead for 2023. Over the course of the next three weeks, Cointelegraph will release the list’s entries, starting from 100.

DISCOVER COINTELEGRAPH’S TOP 100 IN CRYPTO AND BLOCKCHAIN 2023

The Top 100 comprises the 100 most impactful players in crypto and blockchain. Each entry gets its own profile featuring general information, a biography and a 2022 recap, as well as predictions for the impact they may have in 2023. 

The list contains both heroes and villains — those who had left a positive mark as well as those who negatively impacted the space. Just because someone did not move the sector forward doesn’t mean they did not affect the space as a whole. For the first time, Cointelegraph opened up the voting process to the whole crypto community, and Cointelegraph’s staff finalized the list noting what the community suggested.

The Top 100 will be revealed in sections, with those ranked 100 through 91 live right now. Ten profiles will be unveiled each weekday over the next two weeks until Feb. 17, when seven profiles will be published. The following week, the final three entries will be announced, one per day through Feb. 22. 

Cointelegraph has compiled the Top 100 list each year for the last several years. It serves as a fun way for readers to see the crypto sector’s most influential driving forces, potentially giving them topics for discussion. Each Top 100 also serves as a time capsule of sorts — a way to document each year in the industry.

Readers can vote on who will appear at the top of Cointelegraph’s list of the Top 100 in crypto and blockchain.

The 2023 edition of Cointelegraph’s Top 100 Most Influential in Crypto list will bring the most prominent, influential and artistic individuals, concepts and characters who shaped the crypto and blockchain industry in 2022 and are likely to make a further impact in the space in 2023. 

With everything happening within the crypto space, it’s very difficult to create a list that will be accepted universally. Because of this, the criteria for the Cointelegraph Top 100 remains simple: those who had the biggest impact in 2022 and could potentially continue shaping the space next year. The list acknowledges those who had a positive as well as a negative impact within the space. After all, the mishaps may result in the space becoming more mature, with better regulation or wiser community members.

This year, the crypto community has a chance to be a part of the process. Through a voting page, anyone can nominate who they believe deserves to be on the Top 100.

CAST YOUR VOTE: COINTELEGRAPH’S TOP 100 LIST

The voting page is live and will be accepting votes until Jan. 15, 2022. Soon after the voting page closes, Cointelegraph will release the results of the 2023 Top 100 list.

In 2020, the top spot in the first-ever Cointelegraph Top 100 was taken by Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of crypto exchange Binance, because of his achievements in 2019.

In 2021, first place went to “all of us” who participated in a decentralized network within the crypto community because we, as a community, made an impact, whether big or small. Without the community’s support, founders and CEOs could not have done what they were able to do within the crypto space.

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried made it to the No. 1 spot of 2022’s Top 100 list. While it wasn’t positive, the former CEO truly made a significant impact this year and will likely be a regular appearance in the headlines in 2023.

Who is worthy of making it into the next list? It’s up to you to decide. Cast your vote now!