2024 was a huge year — marked by the approval of Bitcoin Spot ETFs, BTC surpassing $100K, the total crypto market cap surging past $3.9 trillion, and new investors and funding flowing into the market.
After a stellar 2024, we are moving into a new year with greater expectations and stronger enthusiasm. As we enter 2025, there are some key voices that will have a lot of influence on this trillion-dollar market and will help you better understand it as well as prepare for what’s to come.
Here’s our list of the ten most influential individuals that hold sway over crypto heading into 2025.
1. Andreas Antonopoulos
Our list starts with industry veteran Andreas M. Antonopoulos, who most new crypto entrants may not know much about, but with Bitcoin hogging all the limelight and institutional flows, we must go back to our roots, and that takes us to this technologist and serial entrepreneur who’s a well-known and well-respected figure in the Bitcoin space.
Antonopoulos has been involved with Bitcoin for over a decade, helping people learn and understand the world’s largest cryptocurrency by making complex subjects accessible.
A public speaker, podcaster, advisor, and author, Antonopoulos has published over 200 articles and created a vast amount of YouTube content covering distributed networks, cryptography, security, and more. His focus is on educating the masses about Bitcoin and advancing crypto adoption.
2. Larry Fink
The CEO of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock (BLK +0.34%), now holds a lot of power, too, given that his firm dominates the Bitcoin Spot ETF flow. Fink is a fresh face in the crypto sector who has changed his views on Bitcoin in recent years.
Back in 2017, Fink called Bitcoin “an index of money laundering.” However, he wasn’t particularly a crypto skeptic. In an interview at the time, Fink stated he was a “big believer in the potential of what a cryptocurrency can do,” but so far, its use case is centered around speculation. A few years after that, Fink said this nascent asset class could possibly “evolve” into a global market asset.
Then, in 2023, BlackRock shocked the market by filing for an application with the SEC to create a Bitcoin ETF. In January 2024, the regulatory agency gave permission to several issuers, including BlackRock, which many suspect may have helped the SEC come to that decision.
Since their approval, institutional investors have poured over $35.24 billion into the ETFs, as per SoSo Value.
With $37.25 billion in cumulative net inflows, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) is the largest. Its net assets, meanwhile, sit at $51.72 billion, accounting for 2.79% of Bitcoin’s total market cap. Recently, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF options also made their debut with $1.9 bln in notional exposure.
BlackRock is also the issuer of Ethereum ETF, ETHA, which has recorded the highest net inflow of $3.53 bln. Its net assets, meanwhile, are at $3.58 bln, second to Grayscale at $4.74 bln, which has $3.664 bln in net outflows. The fee for both of BlackRock’s products is 0.25%.
Besides ETFs, BlackRock is also interested in tokenization, having launched BUIDL in collaboration with Securitize. Fink believes:
“The next step going forward will be the tokenization of financial assets, and that means every stock, every bond […] will be on one general ledger.”
3. Donald Trump
This year, President-elect Donald Trump will not only influence the US and the world but also crypto on a large scale. As Trump returns to the White House on Jan. 20, the crypto market needs to keep a close eye on all he says and does for the next four years.
Unlike his last stint as the president of the United States, this time, Bitcoin and crypto are one of his main agendas.
The first time around, Trump showed his skepticism for the industry, which changed when he took the stage at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville in July 2024. At that event, Trump promised to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet.” Besides freeing Ross Ulbricht, he has pledged to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and support self-custody and crypto innovation.
But this was just the beginning. Trump also pledged to take a completely different approach to crypto than the Biden Administration.
This effectively made crypto an election issue, with the industry’s leading super PACs pouring $131 million into the election and helping elect several pro-crypto lawmakers. It came to fruition when Donald Trump was elected for a second non-consecutive term on Nov. 5, 2024, as the 47th president of the United States, and within a month of that, BTC hit $100K for the first time.
Trump’s involvement in crypto, however, started well before the Bitcoin conference. Back in 2022, he issued NFTs and then launched World Liberty Financial most recently.
After making several promises to the crypto community on his campaign trail, Trump has already begun making good on them as he announced his nominations. Some of his picks, including Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary, Paul Atkins for SEC Chair, and David Sacks as “AI and crypto czar” are poised to support the industry.
Now, as Trump takes office later this month and holds power in both the House and Senate, the crypto industry is looking for a great time ahead, marked by greater regulatory clarity and a comprehensive crypto-friendly legislative regime. So, it’s pretty clear that in 2025, Trump will influence crypto big time.
4. Vitalik Buterin
While Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, is pseudonymous, no one knows the identity of the person behind the world’s largest cryptocurrency or their whereabouts; this is not the case with Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, which pioneered smart contracts and enabled decentralized applications (dApps).
This half-a-trillion-dollar cryptocurrency is the brainchild of Vitalik Buetrin, whose net worth is estimated to be north of $1 billion. The Russian-Canadian entrepreneur is one of the most influential figures in the crypto world and is shaping the future of decentralized finance (DeFi).
With an educational background in computer science, Buterin’s crypto endeavors led him to cofound Bitcoin Magazine in 2011, and two years later, he conceptualized Ethereum, which was launched in 2015 after raising 31,000 BTC (equivalent to $18 million at the time).
In 2022, Ethereum underwent “The Merge” upgrade, which moved it to a proof-of-stake consensus. Now, Buterin is exploring potential overhauls to address its scalability and complexity. Recently, Buterin wrote about possible futures for Ethereum, noting that “reducing complexity and bloat over time” is necessary to sustain the blockchain.
Ethereum’s roadmap now includes ‘The Purge’ to limit how much historical data each node must store, ‘The Surge’ to increase transaction throughput by integrating L2 scaling, ‘The Scourge’ to address centralization risks, and at last, ‘The Verge’ to allow even mobiles to participate in Ethereum’s consensus.
Buterin, however, not only influences Ethereum and, by extension, thousands of projects built on it but he’s also actively involved in philanthropic efforts. So, as the crypto market looks for a wild time ahead and ETH is finally expected to catch a bid, Buterin’s views and decisions will define the future of Ethereum, which is the only other crypto besides BTC to get an ETF.
5. Anatoly Yakovenko
Ethereum dominated the last two cycles with new projects popping on it daily. However, this time, it’s Solana that’s leading the market momentum and development. So, naturally, our list of crypto influencers includes its co-founder, Anatoly Yakovenko.
While Solana started as an ‘ETH killer,’ Yakovenko has denounced this narrative as lame now and rather sees both the blockchain thriving and has pointed to technology upgrades that can enhance interoperability between the two platforms.
But before Yakovenko built the hottest blockchain of this cycle, he led the development of operating systems at Qualcomm and, before that, compression at Dropbox. As for his crypto background, Yakovenko started with Bitcoin and then became interested in Ethereum’s tech, which sent him looking into answering the scalability problem.
So, in 2017, he founded Solana, which utilizes a new consensus algorithm called Proof of History (PoH), allowing it to handle up to 50,000 transactions per second (TPS) and make it one of the fastest and cheapest blockchains globally.
In 2022, after the FTX debacle, Solana experienced a deep crash, both in its price and usage. But that was just a temporary setback, as evident from its strong comeback. Amidst this, Solana launched an Android phone called Saga, which contained millions of free BONK tokens, and now plans to release a second crypto smartphone called Seeker this year.
While SOL price made a stellar recovery from sub-$10 in Dec. 2022 to hit a new all-time high (ATH) at $263.21 on Nov. 23, 2024, the blockchain also maintained its lead as the most popular blockchain ecosystem this year.
According to a CoinGecko report, the Solana ecosystem accounts for 38.8% of global crypto investor interest in chain-specific narratives driven by low gas fees, meme coin speculation, and, of course, the virality of meme coin generator Pump.fun.
As SOL continues to grab market attention and capital, with its popularity showing no signs of slowing down, Yakovenko’s influence can help it climb new heights.
6. Brian Armstrong
The CEO of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, Brian Armstrong, has been leading the charge in crypto adoption and innovation. Before co-founding Coinbase (COIN +5.23%) back in 2012 with Fred Ehrsam, Armstrong worked as a developer at IBM, a consultant at Deloitte, and a software engineer at Airbnb.
In 2021, he took Coinbase public, which briefly reached a market capitalization of $100 billion. As of writing, COIN is trading around $250, which, while a significant upside since the stock hit its low at under $32 two years ago, is nowhere near the $428 peak it hit in April 2021. Still, this puts Armstrong’s net worth at $10.8 bln, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN +5.23%)
In terms of revenue, the exchange reported $1.2 billion for its most recent quarter, while trading volume was $185 billion. Its strong balance sheet of $8.2 billion meanwhile allowed it to enable a $1 billion stock buyback authorization. Coinbase also donated $1 million to the Trump-Vance inauguration committee before the results came.
According to CoinGecko, Coinbase is the fifth-largest centralized exchange, with a market share of 6.9% in November 2024. Its volume in the month grew 184.0% to $172.9 billion thanks to being on a listing spree, the majority of which were meme coins that helped attract the growing retail crowd.
Coinbase has come a long way since its small beginnings under Armstrong’s leadership, whose aim is to “create a safe, trusted, and compliant platform for people to access this new technology.”
Back in 2020, he made headlines for discouraging political activism in the workplace in an attempt to be a ‘mission-focused’ company that is all about increasing economic freedom in the world. In 2023, Coinbase launched its own L2 called Base, which is the most popular blockchain ecosystem after Solana, capturing 16.8% of investor interest in 2024.
“We believe the future of finance is decentralized, and we’re building the infrastructure to make that future a reality.”
– Armstrong
7. Michael Saylor
It’s no surprise that MicroStrategy (MSTR +13.22%) co-founder Michael Saylor continues to be one of the most influential figures in the Bitcoin space. After all, he has become a staunch supporter of the crypto king, taking every opportunity to buy BTC.
Saylor’s efforts have made MicroStrategy the largest Bitcoin-holding public company, owning 446,400 BTC at an average purchase price of $58,219 as of Dec. 30, 2024. In total, the company has bought $23.41 billion worth of BTC, which is now worth over $43 billion.
Saylor founded his software company in the 1980s, but after the dot-com bubble, it faded into irrelevance and was only flung back into the limelight thanks to Bitcoin. Back in 2020, the company decided to invest its cash in the cryptocurrency due to fear of inflation. Soon, MicroStrategy was piling not only its cash into BTC but also selling debt to raise money and then buying Bitcoin with that.
While one would balk at the idea of buying Bitcoin around its ATH, Saylor is unbothered because he sees BTC value going exponentially higher in the coming decades. As per his forecast, Bitcoin is going to be worth $13 million a coin by the year 2045, driven by lower volatility and increased adoption.
Not only does MicroStrategy hold more BTC than any other publicly traded company because Saylor sees a huge upside, but he has also created a pathway for corporate Bitcoin purchases. At least a dozen publicly traded companies with previously no association with crypto have shared their plans to invest in Bitcoin, and many more could be expected to follow this year.
8. Cynthia Lummis
The Wyoming Senator is the leading voice behind the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, but Cynthia Lummis’ (R-WY) love and support for the digital gold isn’t newly found. In fact, she first bought Bitcoin back in 2013, so she’s among the earliest BTC adopters.
With the Bitcoin reserve, Lummis aims to address the nation’s “crippling national debt.“ She first announced a proposal for the same at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.
According to Lummis’ bill, the Reserve would utilize the BTC that the US Treasury currently holds, but that’s not all, it also recommends selling a portion of the country’s gold reserves to buy more BTC.
She is also a key advocate for stablecoin legislation, and both these issues are likely to be voted on as Republicans take control of the government. A champion of the industry, Lummis has already helped pass various crypto-favorable laws in Wyoming, and the same can now be expected in the broader US.
9. Elon Musk
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is a self-proclaimed “Dogefather“ who has sent the prices of meme coins like Dogecoin surging simply by posting about them on X (previously Twitter). Musk’s love for Doge actually got him appointed as the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E), whose focus will be on cutting costs.
However, making social media posts about DOGE or random coins is not the extent of Musk’s interest in cryptocurrency. His electric car company, Tesla (TSLA +8.22%), has actually made a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin. While he has expressed concerns about the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining, the world’s richest person also remains personally invested in the digital asset for the long term.
Musk’s other venture, SpaceX, which has successfully achieved reusable rocket technology and aims to colonize Mars, also announced a ‘DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon’. Tesla already supports DOGE as payment for select merchandise in its online store. Most recently, X chief executive Linda Yaccarino also confirmed that payments will be coming to the platform this year. Given Musk’s interest in crypto, X may support crypto payments.
According to research, the extent of Musk’s X activity on short-term crypto returns and volume, aka the ‘Musk Effect,’ is very real but not for Bitcoin, just Dogecoin. So, Musk clearly has the power to move certain parts of the crypto market, but whether it will be positive or negative depends on his whim.
10. Cathie Wood
Bitcoin has reached a six-figure value, but Ark Invest’s CEO believes it still remains in the “early innings.“ Cathie Wood is clearly a Bitcoin bull who wants to see the industry go upwards. But she’s not new to this game. Wood first shared her belief in Bitcoin, which she said “could be as big as the Internet,“ about a decade ago.
Now, her bold predictions say $600,000 per BTC by 2030, which are based on Bitcoin’s scarcity, growing demand, robust network, and incoming pro-crypto White House administration.
Yet another factor contributing to her bull thesis is that the borderless digital gold market is only $2 trillion in comparison to gold’s $15 trillion. With ARK Invest believing that “Bitcoin is a much bigger idea than gold,“ Wood has even predicted a $1 million milestone for BTC by the end of this decade.
Ark, which focuses on disruptive innovation, is also among the Bitcoin ETF issuers, with ARKB ranking in 3rd place in terms of total inflows, coming in at $2.45bln.
Conclusion
Now, heading into 2025, you have crypto’s most influential individuals that you need to keep an eye on to be better prepared for what’s coming for Bitcoin and altcoins this year. So, good luck taking advantage of all the upcoming opportunities!
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