CoinDesk Most Influential 2025
Most Influential 2025's Honorable Mentions
The crypto industry is ever-growing and ever-changing. It would be difficult to summarize it in 50 names. Here are a few final individuals and entities we wanted to make note of this year.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
