Most Influential 2021: Naveen Jain
He created a global identity solution using emojis.

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

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Pudgy Penguins: A New Blueprint for Tokenized Culture

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.
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Vitalik Buterin to spend $43 million on Ethereum development

Ethereum’s co-founder said the $43 million withdrawal will support a broader “full-stack openness and verifiability” vision as the foundation tightens spending.
What to know:
- Vitalik Buterin withdrew 16,384 ETH, worth about $43 million at current prices, to deploy toward open-source security and privacy projects.
- The move comes as the Ethereum Foundation enters a period of “mild austerity” following a market drawdown.
- The foundation still holds roughly $558 million in crypto assets, according to Arkham.









