Cheyenne Ligon

Cheyenne is a features and opinions editor at CoinDesk. Previously, she covered U.S. policy and regulation, with a focus on court proceedings and crime. She was part of the Gerald Loeb award-winning team that chronicled the downfall of FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried. She has no significant crypto holdings.

Cheyenne Ligon

Latest from Cheyenne Ligon


Tech

Most Influential: Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz K. Stańczak

The Ethereum Foundation’s new leaders hope to bring in a new era for the second-largest cryptocurrency.

Tomasz K. Stańczak and Hsiao-Wei Wang

Tech

Most Influential: Luke Dashjr

The veteran Bitcoin developer is at the forefront of one of the most hotly-discussed debates in crypto — what the original blockchain network should be used for.

Luke Dashjr Bitcoin Core

Finance

Most Influential: Jeff Yan

Jeff Yan, founder of Hyperliquid, has quietly built a $308 billion volume DEX with over half a million users, influencing DeFi while avoiding public attention.

Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan

Tech

Most Influential: The Solana Developers

Solana’s 2025 has proven that its builders and its culture continue to keep its ecosystem in crypto’s cultural zeitgeist.

Solana logo

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Tech

Most Influential: Stani Kulechov

The Aave founder is bringing DeFi to the masses.

Stani Kulechov

Opinion

Re-litigating the GENIUS Act Brings Risk and No Rewards

If bipartisan agreements like the GENIUS Act can be immediately reopened whenever an incumbent industry dislikes their competitive implications, legislative compromise becomes impossible, argues Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger.

U.S. Congress (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Policy

Most Influential: Dennis Porter

When it seemed like many of the states came up with the same bitcoin reserve idea at the same time, a campaign driven by Porter deserves some credit for that tide.

Dennis Porter

Finance

Most Influential: Javier Pérez-Tasso

Pérez-Tasso brought Swift into the blockchain age.

Javier Pérez-Tasso

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Finance

Most Influential: Gilles Roth

Led by Finance Minister Gilles Roth, Luxembourg in the second half of 2025 became the first of the 20-member eurozone to invest in bitcoin.

Gilles Roth

Tech

Most Influential: Sam Altman

OpenAI founder Sam Altman brought artificial intelligence into every corner of people’s lives this year, from the way they work to the way they play. AI has already radically transformed the crypto ecosystem in both good ways and bad, guiding trading decisions, aiding developers, and making hackers more efficient.

Sam Altman OpenAI