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Most Influential 2021: Ryan Selkis

Messari’s CEO was a force behind crypto’s political awakening this year.

Updated May 11, 2023, 6:26 p.m. Published Dec 9, 2021, 9:36 p.m.
Ryan Selkis
Ryan Selkis
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Messari CEO Ryan Selkis is boisterous and sometimes brash, but few are as informed. Perhaps this is because of his institution-grade data firm, which covers the industry like no other, or because Selkis still blogs most days about the crypto things that caught his eye. These Two-Bit Idiot “Unqualified Opinions” have sway.

Selkis was a major voice behind crypto’s political awakening this year and fight against the harmful provisions in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Selkis delivers (take the Consensus-like crypto conference Mainnet), but his Senate run ambitions (probably just Twitter-talk) look to be on hold. For now.

The Complete List: CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2021

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

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

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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.

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