Share this article

Most Influential 2021: Naveen Jain

He created a global identity solution using emojis.

Updated May 11, 2023, 4:31 p.m. Published Dec 7, 2021, 2:08 p.m.
(Adam B Levine/Pixelmind.ai)
jwp-player-placeholder

Co-founder of Yat Labs, Naveen Jain essentially built a global identity solution using emojis, and one being leveraged by many in the crypto industry and celebrities including Ke$ha and Questlove.

Like many crypto projects, the aim is censorship resistance, a form of identity based on three emoji to represent an online identity that can follow you around the web.

Still in its beginning phases – the project leaders don’t even know if they want to bring in a blockchain – Yat has lessons for anyone building today: Even serious ideas, like the internet’s naming convention, can be fun.

The Complete List:CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2021

(Kevin Ross/CoinDesk)
(Kevin Ross/CoinDesk)

More For You

Pudgy Penguins: A New Blueprint for Tokenized Culture

Pudgy Title Image

Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.

What to know:

Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.

The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.

More For You

World token jumps 27% as Sam Altman reportedly eyes a biometric social network to kill off bots

Sam Altman

The WLD token surged after Forbes reported that Sam Altman's OpenAI is planning to use Worldcoin to fight bots online.

What to know:

  • World’s WLD token jumped sharply on Wednesday after a Forbes report said Sam Altman’s OpenAI is exploring a biometric social network to combat online bots.
  • The report said OpenAI has considered using Apple’s Face ID or World’s iris-scanning Orb device to verify human users, though no formal partnership between OpenAI and World has been confirmed.
  • World Network, which has raised $135 million and says it has verified millions of people, is pitching its World ID system as a privacy-focused way to prove personhood online even as it faces regulatory scrutiny in countries such as Kenya and the U.K.