Ten Crypto Industry Leaders Are On Forbes' New 30 Under 30 List

Ten of the young business leaders featured on this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list work in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, highlighting the growing acceptance of the industry by mainstream media.

Despite its name, the list actually highlights 600 young people in various categories, with the crypto alumni including seven individuals in the finance category, one in venture capital, one in energy, and one in manufacturing.

The finance category includes the founder of the $1.2 billion cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX and Alameda Research quantitative trading company Sam Bankman-Fried. Since its launch last year, FTX has made waves offering innovative products, including prediction markets for elections, the Bitcoin hash rate, and for oil futures contracts, generating $ 30 million in profit for the exchange this year.

Brain Tubergen, a co-founder of the initial token offering and exchange platform CoinList, based in the United States, also stands out. Since its launch in 2017, CoinList has facilitated more than $800 million in fundraising for many cryptocurrency projects backed by the industry heavyweights, including a16z, Sequoia Capital, and Bain Capital Ventures.

Nearly a third of the cryptocurrency leaders featured are women, indicating a narrowing, albeit still significant, the gender gap in an industry notorious for low female participation. Forbes celebrates Bitcoin’s first core protocol engineer, Amiti Uttarwar, along with the founder of cryptocurrency lending platform BlockFi, Flori Márquez, and Volt Capital founding partner Soona Amhaz, listed in the equity category of risk.

Including Amhaz, three of the alumni on the list represent venture capital firms, Paradigm Capital’s 21-year investment partner Charlie Noyes, and Pantera Capital co-founder, CIO / Augur, Joseph Krug.

Layer1 Technologies co-founder Alexander Liegl is the only listed representative in the cryptocurrency mining sector , and Liegl’s company has outlined an ambitious plan to bring 30% of the world’s hash power to the United States in long term. Liegl is in the energy category.

The CEO of the Bitcoin Zap payments company, Jack Mallers, is also listed in the finance category.

For its latest entry, Forbes lists the three co-founders of blockchain-powered supply chain data platform Authenticiti, Andrew Yang, Yeong Woo Park, and Athanasios Karachotzitis, in the manufacturing category.

The strong performance of cryptocurrencies in the finance category is likely due to the fact that the judges have ties to the industry – they include Mike Novogratz, the founder of Galaxy Digital and a bullish on Bitcoin along with Cathie Wood, founder of Ark Investment Management. , who runs a digital asset fund.

Forbes has highlighted the achievements of young crypto leaders in the past, with its 2017 list of Asia’s 30 Under the 30s, featuring Tron founder Justin Sun, and its 2018 list, which includes Melonport. and Reto Trinkler from Agora Trade.

The following year the number of crypto entrepreneurs celebrated by Forbes increased; Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley, JB Rubinovitz of the Bail Bloc, and Olaoluwa Osuntokun of Lightning Labs, and Nader Al-Naji of the now-defunct Basis Protocol all made the list.