CoinDesk's Top 10 Most Influential People of 2015

Of course, this year is no longer just about Bitcoin. The underlying technology of Bitcoin, blockchain, has taken on a life of its own, and institutions are taking an active interest in it. What seemed almost impossible a year ago has indeed developed rapidly, with banks and major financial institutions setting up projects to explore the application prospects of blockchain technology.

The industry needs influencers to point the way forward in technology and regulation to increase adoption, develop revolutionary new solutions to important global problems, and create a new class of companies that will make these exciting technologies available to the general public.

We had our own ideas about who was influential in 2015, but we also consulted the public. For this year's top 10 list, we considered the biggest events of the year, the nominees' contributions to the community, and the results of the voting.

Bobby Lee

As CEO of Shanghai-based bitcoin exchange BTCC, Lee has a huge influence, building bridges and eliminating barriers between the East and West sides of the bitcoin community.

Li Qiyuan often attends various forums and conferences, and played an important role in the recent discussion on scaling solutions. He was responsible for translation and coordination at the Bitcoin scaling seminar, allowing Chinese miners to communicate with Western developers.

He is well-known within the Bitcoin industry and makes headlines more easily than anyone else. He is well-liked in the community and was elected to the Bitcoin Foundation board of directors.

Blythe Masters

Women are rare in technology, and the Bitcoin industry is no exception. But one notable exception is Blythe Masters, the most prominent financial executive in the Bitcoin community and a controversial figure in the industry.

Masters, formerly head of JPMorgan Chase’s global commodities division, is now CEO of DA, which provides settlement and accounting services for digital assets.

Her expertise and reputation once put her on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek. Her startup company is the most famous in the circle and is rumored to have received investments from JPMorgan Chase and Santander Bank.

Masters is no fan of Bitcoin (she has publicly expressed her disagreement on the subject), but she has done more than anyone to promote blockchain technology to Wall Street, even turning down a job running Barclays’ investment bank.

Balaji Srinivasan

Srinivasan is the head of 21 Inc, a company that was once very secretive because it hoarded a lot of VC cash and people outside the company knew nothing about its business plan. However, in March, 21 Inc finally made global headlines when it was revealed that it had received $116 million in investment, the largest investment in a Bitcoin company in history. So the question is, what is the fascinating product or service that has brought it to this point?

Finally, in May, leaked documents revealed tests showing that 21 Inc’s technology could enable bitcoin transactions between machines, facilitating real-time markets over the bandwidth of the internet.

Things were quiet for a while until a product was released, a lightweight tool called Bitcoin Computer, which began shipping to Amazon in November.

There is still a lot of work to do in terms of patent applications, but many believe that 21 Inc’s Bitcoin computer will set off a new wave of developer innovation in the industry.

Srinivasan has raised the profile of Bitcoin globally, brought a slew of Bitcoin tools to major outlets, and is a well-deserved influencer of 2015.

Theymos

Theymos is a pseudonym for a controversial figure in the Bitcoin community and one of the moderators of the Reddit Bitcoin forum r/Bitcoin.

His strict, opinionated, and censorship-resistant coordination style has generated some controversy, with one user jokingly suggesting that Theymos might be able to block Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto.

The fallout was so bad that other entrepreneurs attempted to replace r/Bitcoin as the main forum for the industry.

Bitcoin evangelist Roger Ver, known by some as “Bitcoin Jesus,” launched the Bitcoin.com forums in part to provide an alternative venue for discussion, and another Reddit forum, r/btc, was also launched. Then there’s the unrealized DATT initiative, which aims to decentralize Reddit.

Whether or not you agree with Theymos' style, he undoubtedly has a certain influence on the community and related discussions, although this influence may be challenged again next year.

Gavin Andresen

As the bitcoin community focuses on a major technical issue — how to tweak the code to allow for larger transactions — the network’s extended maintenance period has taken on a surprisingly dominant role in the conversation.

Andresen is outspoken in expressing his views, believing that capacity should be expanded boldly and quickly.

The programmer took to the forum to enthusiastically push his case for Bitcoin XT, a client that would get miners to vote to remove bitcoin’s 1MB block size limit.

As the proposal continued to be discussed, Andresen’s way of presenting his ideas proved controversial, and the sudden release of Bitcoin XT attracted exaggerated and even negative headlines.

Because of his frequent involvement in Bitcoin community affairs and contributions to Bitcoin code, Andresen also appeared on last year’s list, ranking fifth.

Vitalik Buterin

Despite his youth, Buterin already has impressive credentials in the cryptocurrency space, having been involved in several notable projects in addition to his original editorial duties at Bitcoin Magazine.

After helping to create Dark Wallet and KrytoKit, the Toronto-born geek founded Ethereum, a specialized blockchain network for decentralized applications.

As the soul of the project, Buterin is also a frequent attendee at conferences. Four of the 10 people on this year’s list were also on last year’s list, and Buterin is one of them. Last year, he ranked sixth.

However, 2015 was more about crowdfunded projects amid controversy, delays after inflated expectations and rumors of difficulties behind the scenes.

Regardless, Ethereum persisted and held a large promotion conference in London to showcase the new technology, and now many startups are using Ethereum.

In short, 2015 was the year Ethereum had to prove itself, and while it’s still early days, it’s safe to say it’s already become an integral part of the industry conversation.

Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam

The co-founder of Coinbase has done as much as anyone to bring Bitcoin to the mainstream, with the international exchange and wallet platform being user-friendly and providing a simple way for non-technical people to buy, hold and use Bitcoin.

But as their company grew, Armstrong and Ehrsam wanted to expand their role as industry thought leaders.

This year, Armstrong and Ehrsam have been spending their days hawking their ideas on their company blog and social media, explaining to people why they think bitcoin needs to move forward.

In the process, they made no secret of the fact that media coverage of technology is woefully inadequate and supported Bitcoin over altcoins.

Although Coinbase has attracted criticism from some communities on social platforms because of its strict compliance with global regulations, the couple has indeed made their own contributions to Bitcoin.

Wences Casares

As CEO of bitcoin security startup Xapo, Wences Casares remains one of the most prominent figures in the bitcoin and blockchain space.

It’s worth noting that Xapo has remained relatively quiet in 2015, but the spotlight has remained on it. The startup hasn’t released many products or services this year, and is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with former employees, including several key executives.

While Casares is relatively quiet on the business front, his evangelical speeches are widely circulated, even in non-news statements, telling people that Bitcoin will change the world.

The entrepreneur from Argentina is also credited with educating the world about digital currencies, promoting them to Silicon Valley and wary Wall Street financiers, and seeing it as a mission to turn cynics into smiling advocates.

Brian Forde

Since being recommended to lead MIT DCI (Digital Currency Initiative), the former White House senior adviser took a big step in April this year and began to vigorously promote the benefits of Bitcoin and blockchain inside and outside the famous university.

As part of the MIT Media Lab, DCI is looking to collaborate with other departments, whether it’s the College of Engineering or the School of Communication and Journalism, so that a new generation of young people is at the forefront of emerging technologies.

Although his public persona has become more reserved, Forde remains grounded, taking steps to promote the technology and make DCI's goals understandable to people.

This year, he used MIT’s influence to bring technology to the most powerful teams in history in industry dialogues and delivered keynote speeches, such as the Bitlicense regulatory rules in New York State.

Satoshi Nakamoto

The anonymous person who created Bitcoin is an oft-discussed genius who proved once again this year that he or she still has a huge influence on the industry.

Wired and Gizmodo reported that Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright is the long-sought-after Satoshi Nakamoto, illustrating just how much attention the mysterious inventor of bitcoin can draw.

Even in a week when the industry’s most popular proposal for increasing address capacity was born and its oldest trading organization looked ready to go bankrupt, the Satoshi report stole the headlines.

What follows is the expected plot.

While other media outlets were looking for flaws in the new evidence, Pundits said that Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity was not important. Regardless, the discussion eventually broke out of the Bitcoin community and flooded the world’s mainstream media.

Although he is labeled as the inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto is also the inventor of the decentralized ledger, the blockchain. While big banks are gradually embracing and trying to harness the power of this technology, Satoshi and his/her invention remain the focus of discussion and ranked first in our poll.

Honorary Acknowledgements

In the past year, many famous people have made outstanding contributions to Bitcoin and blockchain.

The following also received impressive votes from the community: Andreas Antonopoulos (Bitcoiner and author); Dan Morehead (CEO of Pantera Capital); Mike Hearn (Head of Platform, R3CEV); Chris Larsen (CEO of Ripple Labs); Barry Silbert (CEO of Digital Currency Group); Roger Ver (angel investor); developers at The Blockstream; Elizabeth Rossiello (CEO of BitPesa); and Tim Swanson (Head of Market Research, R3CEV).

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/coindesk-most-influential-bitcoin-blockchain-2015/

Translation: BTCC