A historical ranking of the 100 most influential individuals shaping the blockchain conversation, originally published on rise.global. Scored on Klout and Twitter signals for the week ending 9 May 2018.
This page is a preserved archive of The 100 Most Influential Blockchain People, a leaderboard that ran on rise.global through 2017 and 2018. It tracked the people driving the blockchain conversation each week — founders, investors, journalists, and researchers — blending Klout authority scores with Twitter list inclusion to surface those with both reach and curated relevance.
The list is a snapshot of an extraordinary moment in crypto: Vitalik Buterin at #1, Joseph Lubin at #2, Don Tapscott at #3, with Tim Draper, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Roger Ver, Charlie Lee, Brock Pierce and Charles Hoskinson all in the top 25. Names that would later become near-mythic in the industry. We are keeping it online because press, academic papers, and industry reports continue to cite it.
| Rank | Move | Person | About | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Vitalik Buterin | See https://t.co/iBNSW4KCSO Not giving away ETH. For inquiries about me advising your ICO, please email: noreply@buterin.com | 50 |
| 2 | — | Joseph Lubin | Co-founder of @ethereumproject & Founder of @ConsenSys. Building the decentralized Web 3.0 on #Ethereum. | 50 |
| 3 | ▲ 1 | Don Tapscott | Media theorist. Author. Adjunct Professor. Hammond B3 player. Co-founder of the @BlockchainRI. | 49 |
| 4 | ▼ 1 | Max Keiser | @KeiserReport Rules! | Join #MaxCoin Telegram Group: https://t.co/QcnwNRuZvL | Join Max + Stacy Telegram group https://t.co/9iHo0c9Zj6 | 49 |
| 5 | — | Marc Andreessen | 48 | |
| 6 | — | Gilles Babinet | Digital Champion @ France European Commission ; entrepreneur- bigdata, blockchain, #AI, Educ @captain_Dash ex. Chairman at @cnnum ; Afrique & numérique | 48 |
| 7 | ▲ 93 | Tim Draper | Founder of @DFJvc, @drapervc, @Draper_U, @IYS_Org. | 47 |
| 8 | ▼ 1 | Jim Marous | Co-publisher of The Financial Brand and the owner and publisher of the Digital Banking Report. | 47 |
| 9 | ▲ 2 | Ran Neuner | CNBC Cryptotrader host. Cryptoman,Founder ONCHAIN CAPITAL,Cereal Entrepreneur,Bored member. Accumulating BTC - I am not a genius! youtube: https://t.co/WlU2BmVZiL | 46 |
| 10 | ▼ 2 | Thomas Power | Board Member @9Spokes Professional Speaker #AI #Blockchain #Crypto #GDPR #FinTech #ICO #IoT #OpenBanking #SaaS thomas.power@9spokes.com @WhatsApp +447875695012 | 46 |
| 11 | ▼ 2 | Charlie Lee | Creator of Litecoin. Cryptocurrency Enthusiast. Director of Engineering at Coinbase. | 45 |
| 12 | ▼ 2 | Brett King | Founder/CEO of Moven, Bestselling Author, Radio Show Host, Innovator of the Year | 45 |
| 13 | ▼ 1 | John McAfee | For my followers: I alert you to what is worthy of me working with. For my trolls: I shill shitcoins. | 44 |
| 14 | — | Naval Ravikant | Present. | 44 |
| 15 | ▼ 2 | Vinny Lingham | CEO @CivicKey ($CVC), building global blockchain ID platform. General Partner @multicoincap/@newtownpartners Expect Crypto/Bitcoin tweets, often sarcastically. | 43 |
| 16 | — | Roger Ver | World's first Investor in Bitcoin startups including https://t.co/by6ZmukKd4 , https://t.co/dTLdWRhiXj , https://t.co/PLTxag4smR , BitPay, Kraken, Purse.io & interested in Voluntaryism | 43 |
| 17 | — | Brock Pierce | (Re)start, ONE, Blockchain Capital, EOS, DNA, Tether, Chairman Bitcoin Foundation, Mastercoin - Working to positively impact the lives of billions of people | 42 |
| 18 | — | Michael Mainelli | scientist financier trying to promote societal advance through better finance and technology | 42 |
| 19 | — | Adryenn Ashley | #blockchain Founder https://t.co/viz1oGeMVq . #crypto #bitcoin #otc #ico Award winning Film/TV, Red Carpets, Social Influencer starting global conversations that matter | 41 |
| 20 | ▼ 5 | Andreas M. Antonopoulos | Bitcoin, open blockchains, security. entrepreneur, coder, atheist, pacifist, pilot. Author of: Mastering Bitcoin, The Internet of Money, Mastering Ethereum. | 41 |
| 21 | ▼ 1 | Dinis Guarda | CEO Founder author @intelligenthq @lifescihq @ztudium @blockchainage @HedgeThink @tradersdna advisor @glancetechinc #tech #blockchain #Fintech #crypto #AI #healthcare | 40 |
| 22 | — | Erik Voorhees | Toward peace, markets, and Bitcoin. CEO of ShapeShift. Blog at https://t.co/NWtf7N3O6u | 40 |
| 23 | ▼ 2 | Sally Eaves | CTO and thought leader in emergent technology, intrapreneurship, online media and navigating digital disruption to sustainably support business success, educational development and social innovation. | 39 |
| 24 | ▲ 2 | Ross Gerber | Co-Founder & #CEO, #InvestmentAdvisor. #Stock market #investor #Fintech app: https://t.co/FpDEbFc6bf #Tech #entertainment Disclaimer - https://t.co/yTYGH9zoht | 39 |
| 25 | ▲ 3 | Jackson Palmer | Product + data geek at @Adobe by day. Creator of @dogecoin, YouTuber ( https://t.co/mO8kCAL85P ) Opinions my own. Get in touch: inquiries@ummjackson.com | 38 |
| 26 | ▲ 1 | Tuur Demeester | Economist & investor. Mostly Bitcoin. | 38 |
| 27 | ▼ 2 | Bruce Porter Jr. | American #Entrepreneur, athlete, globetrotter living in #Washington #DC @EmmeGirls COO @GlobalBoost CEO. #Blockchain $BSTY #Gold #ModelBuzz #veterans | 37 |
| 28 | ▲ 3 | Meltem Demirors | i don't sleep, i wait. building @CoinSharesCo treasury. investing w/ athena & 3.0 capital. teaching @MIT @UniofOxford. formerly @dcgco. | 37 |
| 29 | ▼ 5 | Warren Whitlock | Publish at https://t.co/h98q1XR79h Influencer in blockchain, ico, social media, tech and marketing. Futurist, Advisor, Author and friend | 36 |
| 30 | ▼ 7 | Tiff Hayden | Elliptic curves & weapons of math destruction. #Bitcoin #BitcoinCash #XRP Community Manager at @Edgesecure | 36 |
| 31 | ▲ 7 | Jimmy Song | Bitcoin Educator, Developer and Entrepreneur/PGP Fingerprint: C1D7 97BE 7D10 5291 228C D70C FAA6 17E3 2679 E455 | 35 |
| 32 | ▼ 3 | Stacy Herbert | @KeiserReport @HeisenbergCap Skin in the bitcoin game since 2011. Commentator, evangelizer, investor and student. Gold, Silver, Bitcoin. | 35 |
| 33 | ▼ 3 | Brian Armstrong | Co-founder & CEO at @Coinbase. Building an open financial system for the world. Join us: https://t.co/8O8g0LLXHg | 34 |
| 34 | ▼ 2 | Barry Silbert | Founder/CEO @DCGco, parent of @GrayscaleInvest, @GenesisTrading @CoinDesk & investor in 100+ cos, $BTC $ETC $ZEC $MANA $ZEN, etc. | 34 |
| 35 | ▲ 2 | Nick Szabo | Blockchain, cryptocurrency, and smart contracts pioneer. (RT/Fav/Follow does not imply endorsement). Blog: http://t.co/4Kr3OJmRUN | 33 |
| 36 | ▲ 12 | Elizabeth Stark | big fan of the internet. like building things. cofounder @lightning labs, fellow @coincenter. taught @stanford + @yalelawtech. | 33 |
| 37 | ▼ 3 | Emin Gün Sirer | Prof @Cornell, co-director @ https://t.co/hzEhWhTa3j , system builder. Passionate about Dist Sys, OSes, Blockchains, NoSQL, and Bitcoin. | 32 |
| 38 | ▲ 3 | Adam Back | cypherpunk, cryptographer, privacy/ecash, inventor hashcash (used in Bitcoin mining) PhD Comp Sci https://t.co/L69Em1yrDX Co-Founder/CEO https://t.co/U8UjWqEPo3 | 32 |
| 39 | ▼ 6 | Chris Skinner | Always looking ahead | 31 |
| 40 | — | Laura Shin | Crypto/blockchain journalist; Host of https://t.co/EAGPgMme32 & https://t.co/JyhZR6fv1x Disclosure: I own BTC & ETH; Email https://t.co/VNEFDfySQe | 31 |
| 41 | ▲ 5 | Michael Parsons | Blockchain/Digital Currency Advisor & Presenter | Chartered Accountant & Banking professional | 30 |
| 42 | ▲ 3 | Jeff Berwick | The Dollar Vigilante with Jeff Berwick is your source for surviving and prospering during and after the dollar collapse. Visit https://t.co/XG6oRftey8 | 30 |
| 43 | ▼ 8 | Simon Dixon | Investment Banker turned Bitcoiner. Wrote book 'Bank to the Future'. Co-founder Online Investment Platform @BankToTheFuture - over $350m invested in #FinTech | 29 |
| 44 | — | Nathaniel Popper | writing about technology and finance for @nytimes; author of Digital Gold, a history of Bitcoin; nathaniel.popper@nytimes.com ; dm me for signal or pgp | 29 |
| 45 | ▼ 6 | Daniel Roberts | senior writer @YahooFinance: sports; tech; media; bitcoin; rabbit holes. host of Sportsbook. @fortunemagazine alum. Boston fan. droberts at oath dot com. | 28 |
| 46 | ▼ 10 | Sebastian Meunier | I help FIs transform their businesses through innovation #Fintech #Insurtech #Regtech | 28 |
| 47 | ▲ 2 | Mark Van Rijmenam | Mark van Rijmenam is founder of dscvr.it and datafloq, an internationally renowned big data and blockchain expert, author and speaker. | 27 |
| 48 | ▼ 6 | Gavin Andresen | Husband, father, geek. | 27 |
| 49 | ▼ 6 | Simon Cocking | Senior editor @Irish_TechNews #1 Irish tech site | Editor in chief @TodayCrypto | #TEDx @sundaybusiness @IrishTimes @SouthernStarIRL #blockchain #FinTech #ICO | 26 |
| 50 | — | David M. Brear | 26 | |
| 51 | — | Oliver Bussmann | Oliver Bussmann is a Global FinTech Executive, Advisor, Keynote #Speaker and Blogger. Top 10 #FinTech #Blockchain #ICO Influencer. | 25 |
| 52 | — | Safaraz Ali | Founder of #Pathway2Grow: Business #Networking Group. CEO of @PathwayGroup | 25 |
| 53 | ▲ 8 | Alexander Tapscott | Jetlag is for wimps. https://t.co/9M7mPSw7TJ | 24 |
| 54 | ▼ 7 | Michael Casey | Blockchain nerd @MediaLab. Chairman Advisory Brd @CoinDesk. Ex-@WSJ columnist. Speaker. Author. The Truth Machine w/ @Paulvigna out Feb: https://t.co/kwDakRt01w | 24 |
| 55 | ▼ 1 | Prof Bill Buchanan OBE | Prof @edinburghnapier Probe edges of science in Cyber/e-Health. Serial innovator. Believer in fairness, justice & freedom. Crypto Geek. EU Citizen. Cyber Punk. | 23 |
| 56 | ▼ 1 | William Mougayar | Author, The Business Blockchain. Producer, Token Summit. Venture investor & Advisor. Founder, Startup Management. Mentor, Entrepreneur, Speaker. Thought Leader. | 23 |
| 57 | — | Dr. Julian Hosp | Co-Founder TenX, Blockchain Expert, Medical Doctor, Professional Athlete, Bestselling Author and Keynote-Speaker | 22 |
| 58 | ▼ 5 | Antonio Selas | Lawyer (Partner) lecturer/speaker: Top #Blockchain #ICO #Crypto #FinTech #InsurTech #RegTech #Antitrust #Competition #IP #Patents #Payments #PSD2 #Trademarks | 22 |
| 59 | — | Michael Terpin | #entrepreneur/#advisor/#investor in #blockchain since 2013, run Transform Group (#1 PR/advisory firm, 75 ICOs), #CoinAgenda, #BitAngels. Founded Marketwire. | 21 |
| 60 | — | Pierre Tran | Journaliste consultant formateur | 21 |
| 61 | ▲ 10 | Michael Novogratz | Galaxy Digital | 20 |
| 62 | ▼ 4 | Simon Taylor | How to fix a bank in 100 days author and fintech networker. Behind the scenes in the barclays accelerator. | 20 |
| 63 | ▲ 3 | Charlotte Halkett | MD #buzzvault currently bringing home #insurance revolution. Veteran of the #insurtech business world, #actuary, #innovation freak, #blockchain enthusiast and motor #telematics expert. | 19 |
| 64 | ▲ 3 | Camila Russo | Markets reporter and blogger for Bloomberg News in New York, focusing on crypto and LatAm. Previously, Madrid and Buenos Aires. Usual disclaimers. Chilena. | 19 |
| 65 | ▼ 3 | David G.W. Birch | In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 megabytes. | 18 |
| 66 | ▼ 10 | Jihan Wu | Co-founder of BITMAIN. Studied Economics and Psychology in Peking University. | 18 |
| 67 | ▼ 3 | Sydes Jokes | We don't stop laughing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop laughing. | 17 |
| 68 | — | Jon Matonis | Economist. Founding Director at Bitcoin Foundation | 17 |
| 69 | — | Alejandro De La Torre | VP Business Operations @ BTC.com | 16 |
| 70 | ▲ 4 | Takashi Mochizuki | Tech reporter | The Wall Street Journal | Tokyo | takashi.mochizuki@wsj.com | 16 |
| 71 | ▼ 6 | Gerald Celente | Gerald Celente, Publisher of The Trends Journal has earned the reputation as “today’s most trusted name in trends” for accurate & timely forecasts since 1980. | 15 |
| 72 | ▼ 9 | Sunny Ray | Taking #Bitcoin & #Blockchain to Billions. Founder @Unocoin & @Fintech_Canada. Advisor to @PaycaseFin, @UdotCASH, @BankToTheFuture, and @PolymathNetwork. | 15 |
| 73 | — | Gary Nuttall | London-based #InsTech & #Fintech enthusiast. Founder of http://www.distlytics.com . #Blockchain enthusiast | 14 |
| 74 | ▼ 4 | Neha Narula | I work on scaling systems and platforms for the internet. Director of Digital Currency @medialab. PhD from @MIT_CSAIL, formerly @digg, @google. | 14 |
| 75 | ▼ 3 | Fred Ehrsam | Systems. Previously co-founder @coinbase. | 13 |
| 76 | ▼ 1 | Jeff Garzik | Husband, father, builder, Co-founder @BloqInc, @Space__Chain & others, proud son of a USMC F-4 pilot. | 13 |
| 77 | ▲ 2 | Anne Connelly | Faculty at @singularityu | Blockchain | Humanitarian | 12 |
| 78 | ▼ 1 | Michael Gastauer | Entrepreneur, Investor, Philanthropist | 12 |
| 79 | ▲ 2 | Kumar Gaurav | Extraordinary status (O1) by U.S. Government. Chairman Auxesis Group, Founder & CEO Cashaa. | 11 |
| 80 | ▼ 4 | Anthony Diiorio | Creating the digital tools that enable you to take control of your life. CEO & Founder Decentral & Jaxx, Co-founder Ethereum. | 11 |
| 81 | ▲ 1 | Gavin Wood | Founder of Parity Technologies. Co-Founder of Ethereum. Building Polkadot. Blockchain bloke. All things Web 3.0 | 10 |
| 82 | ▲ 4 | Ismail Malik | Founder @BlockchainLab | Smart Contracts for the Internet of Everything #BleStack #Blockchain #SocialTrading #Ledgers #Gamification #ValueWeb #Sidechains | 10 |
| 83 | ▲ 5 | Susanne Chishti | CEO @FINTECHcircle @FTC_Institute @WealthTECHBook @InsurTECH_Book Co-Founder @TheFINTECHBook @FTCinnovate #FINTECH Conference Speaker #blockchain #Diversity | 9 |
| 84 | ▲ 1 | Hansjörg Leichsenring | Blogger, Author, Keynote Speaker, Manager and Consultant for Banking, | 9 |
| 85 | ▼ 1 | Wences Cesares | CEO, Xapo | 8 |
| 86 | ▼ 6 | Diana Biggs | Working at the intersection of finance & tech (fin. inclusion, digital currency) | 8 |
| 87 | ▲ 2 | Vinay Gupta | Launched $30bn @Ethereum. CEO of @mattereum Forbes profile https://t.co/JpEu6eHMOf Humanitarian designer https://t.co/QiIBKKUyRq | 7 |
| 88 | ▲ 5 | Toni Lane | blockchain o.g. lover. founder: https://t.co/oYqaZjM97c . co-founder: @cointelegraph. faith in humanity, idealistic realist, peace warrior. Empowered Woman. | 7 |
| 89 | ▼ 2 | Emily Spaven | UK News Editor @LinkedIn. Former Editor @uktnofficial (formerly TechCityNews). Ex-@CoinDesk & @Google employee. Interested in tech and business. | 6 |
| 90 | ▲ 1 | Janina Lowisz | Bringing #blockchain technology to everyday consumers. @CashaaLtd @Auxesisgroup #CAS #teamblockchain | 6 |
| 91 | ▼ 8 | Tony Gallippi | Co-founder and Executive Chairman of BitPay, Inc. | 5 |
| 92 | ▼ 14 | Sir Mark Walport | Tweets from the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser and the Government Office for Science. Most tweets by officials. Direct quotes will be signed "PV" | 5 |
| 93 | ▼ 3 | Jose Pagliery | @CNN investigative reporter ⚔ firearms, hackers, security ⚔ Author of *Bitcoin and the Future of Money* ⚔ PGP: https://t.co/P1F6OpRNq2 | 4 |
| 94 | ▼ 2 | Paolo Tasca | Executive Director of the Centre for Blockchain Technologies at University College London (UCL CBT). | 4 |
| 95 | ▼ 1 | Rob Gill | Economist▪️Trader▪️Entrepreneur▪️Investor▪️Financial Adviser▪️Fintech & Blockchain Enthusiast▪️Volunteer▪️Pro EU▪️Husband, Father & Arsenal Fan | 3 |
| 96 | — | Kathryn Haun | Advise companies & funds. Teach @StanfordGSB. Board of Directors @Coinbase @HackerOne. Fmr fed prosecutor @JusticeDepartment alum @Stanford @USSupremeCourt w/AK | 3 |
| 97 | ▼ 2 | Kristian T. Sorensen | Co-founder @Norfico, the first agency in the Nordics combining strategic advisory with professional communication focusing on #fintech, #regtech & #insurtech | 2 |
| 98 | — | Dean Demellweek | Digital Innovation Strategist Covering Emerging Technologies & Business Model Innovation | Blockchain Tech Thought Leader | Author | 2 |
| 99 | ▼ 2 | Valery Vavilov | Co-founder and CEO at #Bitfury Group | 1 |
| 100 | ▼ 1 | Melanie Swan | The brain as a DAC, potentiation as a demurrage currency. Philosopher, futurist, entrepreneur, trader, traveler, blockchain researcher, information theorist | 1 |
The leaderboard was recomputed weekly by rise.global. Each person was given a Power Score derived from Klout (a now-retired social authority metric) and the count of Twitter lists they appeared on, weighted to balance raw reach with curated relevance.
The "Move" column shows the change in rank versus the previous week — a snapshot of momentum within an industry that, in 2018, was moving very fast.
Note: This is a static archive. The data is frozen at the 9 May 2018 release and is no longer updated. The descriptions reflect each person's own Twitter bio at the time. The original URL slug ("top-fintech-people") is retained for backlink continuity, but the leaderboard itself was always titled "The 100 Most Influential Blockchain People".
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