Most Influential 2023


Consensus Magazine

Sergey Nazarov: The Crypto Oracle

Chainlink is where digital assets meet the real world, and Nazarov is predicting TradFi and crypto will become intertwined.

Sergey Nazarov (Mason Webb/CoinDesk)

Consensus Magazine

Lisa Neigut: Reinventing Lightning to Reinvent Bitcoin

The Blockstream developer has been working on what she calls “Lightning v2” since 2019, and it’s poised to launch by year’s end.

Lisa Neigut (Mason Webb/CoinDesk)

Consensus Magazine

Karl Floersch's 'Optimism' Tech Paved the Way for Coinbase's 'Base' Blockchain

The CEO of OP Labs helped create a set of tools that let developers build their own layer-2 chains.

Karl Floersch (Portrait by Mason Webb for CoinDesk)

Consensus Magazine

Avery Ching: Aptos Led a Year of 'VC Chains'

With hundreds of millions at stake, Avery Ching, co-founder of one of the year's most-talked-about new projects, has much to prove.

Avery Ching, who helped develop Aptos (Mason Webb/CoinDesk)

Consensus Magazine

Jesse Pollak Is Putting the Base in Coinbase

Coinbase's layer-2 blockchain, which launched this year, helps the exchange to scale and reduce transaction fees. Rivals, like Kraken, are now said to be launching their own layer 2s. That's why Pollak is part of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2023 list.

Rebecca Rose's image of Jesse Pollak for Most Influential 2023.

Consensus Magazine

Cuy Sheffield: The Reason Visa Is 'Everywhere’ in Crypto

Perhaps more than at any other TradFi firm, Visa’s crypto unit under Sheffield has been running experiment after experiment. That's why he's one of CoinDesk's Most Influential of 2023.

Cuy Sheffield of Visa (Mason Webb/CoinDesk)

Consensus Magazine

Stefan Berger: The Man Who Made MiCA

He steered through the European Union's world-leading Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) this year in the aftermath of FTX and other scandals. He's now working on a digital euro.

Stefan Berger (Mason Webb/CoinDesk)

Consensus Magazine

Jordi Baylina: Finding Solutions in Zero-Knowledge

One of Ethereum's biggest scalability layers, Polygon, is at the forefront of a new tech trend with the launch of its zkEVM.

Mason Webb/CoinDesk

Consensus Magazine

Larry Fink: Wall Street's Biggest Bitcoin Believer

BlackRock reignited interest in bitcoin ETFs this year, in part driven by CEO Fink’s strong statements on the role of bitcoin as an international currency.

Image of Larry Fink against a orange background

Consensus Magazine

Rune Christensen Is Making Digital Assets Real

The co-founder of MakerDAO says his biggest achievement this year was bringing real-world assets, like U.S. Treasuries, on-chain and at scale.

Image of Rune Christensen, co-founder of MakerDAO

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