Share this article

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
jwp-player-placeholder

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)

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

President Donald Trump nominates Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair

U.S. President Donald Trump (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)

The president confirmed his pick on Friday to replace the incumbent Jerome Powell when his term ends in May.

What to know:

  • President Donald Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to be the new chair of the Federal Reserve.
  • The president confirmed his pick on Friday to replace the incumbent Jerome Powell when his term ends in May.
  • Warsh's appointment his considered by some to be bearish for risk assets such as BTC given his emphasis on monetary discipline, which could mean higher real interest rates.