Similar to the traditional market, the creators of the most renowned cryptocurrencies ended up becoming mythical figures, following in the footsteps of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg. It is difficult to know if this effect is amplified after the person becomes known, or if they already had outstanding personalities before this.
The public's attention and curiosity about figures such as Satoshi Nakamoto, Vitalik Buterin, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), and Daniel Larimer is enormous. Even within a universe that values decentralization, these co-founders and creators are perceived as true leaders, even moving markets because of their opinions or decisions.
Some chase the spotlight, taking advantage of media attention, like Roger Ver and Justin Sun, while others have completely abandoned the ecosystem, including Jackson Palmer, co-founder of Dogecoin (DOGE).
After all, how did these people achieve so much success, and what is their real influence in the day-to-day life of cryptocurrencies? Is this veneration justified, or should the cryptocurrency community look for new idols?
Table Of Content
Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin
We could not start with another name, after all, this was the pseudonym responsible for unifying the idea of sequential data block using authentication (hashes) to the system known as Proof of Work. That's how blockchain was born, the technology behind Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency to solve the double-spending problem.
Until that October 31, 2008, the publication date of the Bitcoin study (paper), no one had discovered a way to create unique digital files, which could not be cloned or forged. However, that person, or group, behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, never revealed his identity.
Above we have Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, who, like Hal Finney, also lived in California. To complicate Dorian's life, this systems engineer worked on banks and government projects. Away from Hal Finney's brilliant career, he won the spotlight for a few weeks until the mess was cleared up.
We know that the first person to receive Bitcoins was Hal Finney, an American who died in 2014, an engineer and programmer trained by CalTech, who was one of the first employees of PGP Corporation, a pioneer and reference in cryptography.
In addition to having developed one of the first anonymous email forwarders, Hal Finney was the mentor of the Reusable Proof of Work technology in 2004. Hal participated in the mailing lists of the cypherpunks, this group of crypto-anarchists interested in digital privacy, and continued to do so on the Bitcoin forums.
However, despite numerous indications pointing to his participation, in whole or in part, of the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, Hal Finney never accepted such a connection. A curious detail is that this study (white paper) of Bitcoin cites several authors and developers in the area, except Hal Finney.
Want to learn more about what Bitcoin is, what is it for, and how to invest in Bitcoin? Understand through this article and follow this other article with more information.
Vitalik Buterin, the mind behind Ethereum
This Russian-Canadian got involved with Bitcoin in 2011, at the age of 17. Son of a computer scientist, he received a bronze medal at the international IT Olympics in 2012. The following year, he visited some developers to show his idea, which culminated in the Ethereum study (white paper).
A curiosity, which at the same time shows the level of interest and technical knowledge was the fact that Vitalik co-founded Bitcoin Magazine in 2011, where he was a writer, in addition to working at the time as a researcher for the cryptographer Ian Goldberg.
On one of his trips in 2013 to meet and exchange ideas with others passionate about cryptocurrencies, Vitalik came across the ConverCoins and MasterCoin projects in Israel. Both sought to use the Bitcoin network to carry out other applications, such as issuing tokens, or creating financial contracts.
The advantage of the young Russian-Canadian was the use of a Turning-complete programming language, capable of solving problems and algorithms. In 2014 Vitalik received an award of 100 thousand Dollars from the foundation of Peter Thiel, and that's how he decided to work full time at Ethereum.
Extremely charismatic and active in the community, Vitalik made a point of learning Chinese, on his own, to be able to participate in events and talk to enthusiasts in the region. The mentor of this network that revolutionized the world of cryptocurrencies remains active, participating in the design and implementation of Ethereum 2.0, which aims to solve the network's scalability problems.
Adam Back, the creator of the hashcash
Born in 1970 in London, this Ph.D. in computer science and systems distributed by the University of Exeter, is the creator of the hashcash, the Proof of Work system used by Bitcoin. This idea came about when Adam was just 26, when he referred her to a crypto mailing list.
Believe it or not, one of the main problems to be solved by the hashcash was the sending of spam emails, unwanted communication, as well as attacks on massive data transfers to servers. The hashcash required the sender of the message to perform a mathematical calculation so complex that it could only be discovered on the basis of trial and error.
In 2002, Adam Back worked at Zero-Knowledge Systems, and one of his customers, Nokia, requested a study on ecash, a means of payment using encryption. His knowledge in the field made Satoshi Nakamoto look for him in 2009 to understand how to apply hashcash technology to a slightly more complex problem than e-mails.
Contrary to popular belief, Adam Back did not contribute to the Bitcoin source code, but besides being mentioned in the white paper, he was one of the few who exchanged experiences directly with Satoshi.
In 2013 Adam Back co-founded Blockstream, one of the leading developers in the Bitcoin ecosystem. In addition to hiring several core devs, they are involved with the Lightning Network technology, and operate a network of satellites to transmit data from the Bitcoin network.
Extremely friendly and well articulated, Adam Back continues to participate not only in the development of technology and new applications, as he also acts in defense of the privacy sought by the Cypherpunks, very active in any high level debate whether at events or on social networks.
Justin Sun, this controversial figure
Currently 30 years old, Justin Sun is not exactly unanimous in the crypto community. Whether because of their over-marketing or self-centeredness, many claim that most of their work is just plagiarism.
Born in Singapore, Justin has always been a harsh critic of the Chinese Communist Party regime, which has earned him some fame. He graduated in history from Beijing University in 2011, and two years later he pursued a postgraduate degree in political economy from the University of Pennsylvania in the USA.
Justin worked for two years for Ripple Labs, the company behind the XRP token, while creating a social network for sharing short audios, called Peiwo. The app became a fever among young people in China, and Justin Sun ended up being invited by Jack Ma to a three-year course at Hupan University, in which the founder of Alibaba taught a class.
It was this fame and contacts in the academic and business world that led him to create the Tron Foundation in 2017, seeking to launch a decentralized network based on blockchain technology with its own token, Tronix (TRX). His ICO raised $ 70 million in September 2017.
With the appreciation of his own currency, Justin Sun made significant acquisitions, among them the international exchange Poloniex, the social network Steemit, in addition to the company BitTorrent, which also launched its own token.
In addition to the controversy over cloning the source code of other cryptocurrencies, and part of the Ethereum white paper, Justin Sun paid $ 4.5 million for a dinner with mega investor Warren Buffett. Love it or hate it, the importance of this figure in the universe of cryptocurrencies is undeniable.
Chris Larsen, investor and finance executive
This 60-year-old billionaire investor was born in California, the son of a freelance illustrator and aviation mechanic for United Airlines. Graduated in accounting and international business from the State University of San Francisco in 1984, he started his professional life working at Chevron.
In 1991 Chris Larsen earned his MBA in economics and finance from renowned Stanford University, and then co-founded a real estate finance business. In 1996 his startup changed the course to offer loans over the internet, creating a rate searcher directly with the financial ones. The company raised $ 450,000 with friends and family.
The website was ready the following year and was an absolute success. With rates lower than the competition through brokers, in 1998 they started offering real estate and auto financing. Despite the rapid growth, the company was experiencing cash problems, and its partner Janina Pawlowski took charge of E-Loan.
In the following year, the company went public on the stock exchange, reached 350 employees, and reached a market value close to 1 billion dollars. Larsen left the company in 2005 to found Prosper Marketplace, an auction site to broker loans. The company struggled to regularize this market, and in 2011 it managed to invest 74 million dollars from investors.
In 2012 Larsen left his position as CEO at Prosper Marketplace to co-found Ripple, which at the time was called OpenCoin. His experience in new financial services and knowledge in the area of venture capital was instrumental in gaining the support of major investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, and IDG Capital Partners.
Elizabeth Stark, the almighty of the Lightning Network
Despite being a universe mostly dominated by men, there are some women who deserve to be highlighted, not for the fact of being a minority, but for their vision, technical quality and execution. To make it even more different, Elizabeth has a law degree, with an academic profile.
The firm pulse of the Lightning Network CEO was responsible for hiring the Nigerian-American Olaoluwa “Lalou”, the company's current Chief Technology Officer. Elizabeth Stark bought the fight with Dryja and Poon, who ended up leaving the company, and the solution brought by the former Google engineer, "Lalou" ended up prevailing.
Ah! Do you know Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Twitter and Square? It was Elizabeth Stark who brought it into the world of Bitcoin, and today Square has become one of the leading companies in the ecosystem, in addition to Jack Dorsey having personally invested in Lightning Labs.
Elizabeth often says that Lightning is a "movement", not a solution or service. Born in a New York suburb, she never intended to practice law, despite her Harvard degree. He even taught at renowned universities in the area of human rights and technology.
It was at Stanford University in 2010 that Elizabeth Stark was introduced to Bitcoin by an assistant professor. His meeting with Dryja took place 5 years later, where the idea of creating a secondary layer to Bitcoin for instant transactions and almost no cost came up.
Stark's persistence paid off, managing to raise 2.5 million dollars from major investors in 2016. His ability to recruit the best developers, keeping the team aligned, organized and focused on work is highlighted as the essence of the Lighting Network.
Elizabeth coordinates not only the company, but the entire Lightning community, investing in diversity, through training for women in technology development. More than a CEO, Stark mentors several brilliant minds who have embraced this technology as the greatest hope in the scalability of Bitcoin.
Roger Ver, or “Bitcoin Jesus”
If Bitcoin had a spokesperson, that person would be Roger Ver. Born in San Jose, California, this libertarian and anarchist spent 10 months in prison for selling explosives on electronic auction sites. @RogerVer
A fan of Mises, Bastiat, Hayek and Friedman, Ver has always fought for the libertarian cause. The purchase of a Ford Mustang on his 16th birthday triggered a dispute with his father that led him to leave the house.
Roger Ver created a startup called MemoryDealers in 1999, working in the sale of computer equipment. In the 2000s, Roger ran for a seat in the California Assembly. Despite the failure in politics, his company was doing very well, and 4 years later he became a millionaire at 25.
His investments in Bitcoin started in 2011, including investments in Bitinstant by Charlie Shrem, Ripple, Blockchain.info, Bitpay, and Kraken. His company MemoryDealers was one of the first to accept Bitcoin as payment, and in addition Roger organized meetups, and participated in conferences to spread the culture of cryptocurrencies.
In 2012 Roger set up a bitcoinstore.com website, intermediating product sales through Bitcoin payments, but it was only in 2014 that he acquired the Bitcoin.com domain.
Roger was one of the most vocal advocates of increasing Bitcoin's block size, including support for the development of Bitcoin XT, claiming that even an increase to 2 megabytes would be insufficient to meet demand. It was this disagreement with the Bitcoin community that led him to promote and help build the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) fork.
For this reason Roger Ver is seen as a traitor by the community that remained in Bitcoin, especially for the marketing speech of “the real Bitcoin” in promoting his altcoin. In 2014 Roger renounced his US citizenship, currently resides in Japan, and is passionate about jiu-jitsu.
But for Sun, all other people are pioneers of a new era. Their influence and hard work always pushed the crypto ecosystem to take further steps 😌