6 crypto experts, investors and influencers at Web Summit 2022

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Crypto experts attending Web Summit 2022

Investment in crypto isn’t just a strategy restricted to those with insider knowledge. People across the globe are diversifying their finances with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and other non-centralised digital assets, including NFTs. Ready to join this community? Hear how crypto is facing its challenges at Web Summit.

This November we will gather the world’s top crypto entrepreneurs at a conference that Politico says is the largest of anywhere in the world. To meet this hype, we wanted to introduce you to some of the major crypto experts coming to Lisbon for Web Summit 2022.

Changpeng Zao and Yi He, Binance

Changpeng was recognised by Bloomberg in 2020 on the outlet’s ‘50 most influential people’ list, has 6.7 million followers on Twitter and is known as the “richest man in the crypto world”. On top of that, Changpeng is also the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Before Binace, Changpeng was part of the team that developed Blockchain.info and also served as CTO of OKCoin.

Yi He co-founded Binance and took control of the organisation’s business strategy in 2017. Within six months Binance had become the largest exchange of cryptocurrencies on the planet. That’s no coincidence, and is a major reason for Yi He’s continued role as leader of all major business, marketing and brand strategy.

Yi He also heads up Binance Labs, a group set up to identify and support blockchain startups and community projects.

Devin Finzer, co-founder & CEO, OpenSea

Devin is an American entrepreneur who was inspired by the release of the CryptoKitties game in 2017 to co-found OpenSea. OpenSea, the first and largest marketplace for crypto collectibles, allows users to create, browse, buy and sell NFTs from one dedicated platform.

Prior to OpenSea, Devin founded Claimdog, which was acquired by Credit Karma, a company in which Devin continued to hold a position for nearly two years. Devin has also worked at major names in the tech world, including Pinterest and Google.

While completing a degree in mathematics at Brown University, Devin was awarded the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Fellowship, a program offering top US college and graduate students a chance to work inside Silicon Valley startups.

Nicole Muniz, CEO, Yuga Labs

Even those who don’t follow the crypto industry diligently may have heard of — or seen — the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Punks NFT project. Indeed, the project became more of a movement, such was the uptake in interest in the NFTs and their impact on pop culture.

Nicole is part of the inspiration behind this venture. As CEO of Yuga Labs, Nicole helped the company grow into a market leader worth US$4 billion by raising more than US$450 million.

Before her position at Yuga Labs Nicole held multiple titles at creative agency B-Reel over seven years. Her agency work brought her in contact with a number of creative opportunities to work with musicians including Kanye West and Arcade Fire.

Charles Hoskinson, founder, Cardano

Charles is perhaps best known in the crypto industry as the founder and former CEO of Ethereum. Now second only to Bitcoin in terms of market capitalisation. Ethereum was created in 2013 and has become nearly synonymous with the term ‘cryptocurrency’.

Now, Charles runs the Cardano blockchain platform and is also the co-founder and current CEO of leading blockchain engineering company Input Output Global. Both platforms were conceived to build the next generation of blockchain systems.

Outside of the world of crypto entrepreneurship, Charles has spoken at the World Economic Forum and is also an active philanthropist, donating to Carnegie Mellon University to build a centre for mathematics.

Kathleen Breitman, co-founder and CEO of Tezos

Kathleen has been key in Tezos’ rise to becoming a major name in the crypto world. The company was created to give individuals peace of mind around sensitive or financially weighted smart contracts by facilitating more intensive security. The Tezos platform does this by guaranteeing the correctness of the code governing digital transactions.

Prior to co-founding Tezos, Kathleen was a senior strategy associate at R3, a consortium of 70 global financial firms, and also worked at Accenture and Bridgewater Associates.

Kathleen has taken part in the Wall Street Journal’s Robert L. Bartley Fellowship Program, taking on the role at the media organisation while completing a degree at Cornell University.

Want to learn more from experts in the crypto and finance spaces? Meet the speakers confirmed to join us in Web Summit for one of our most inspiring conferences yet.

Main image: Web Summit

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