The 100 Influencers who could shape the emerging NFT ecosystem.
In our own way, each of us is unique and special.
The digital assets we create, our awards and achievements, our Drivers Licenses, Passports and Certificates — these things define who we are.
More recently that list has been growing:
- A sword in a game
- My online identities
- A token that represents a unit of my time
- A CryptoKitty feline friend
- The Virtual Wallets on my phone
- Shares in a work of art
- Marketplaces
- Exchanges
NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens are a new way of creating unique digital assets that we control, facilitated by the Ethereum blockchain.
The Ethereum blockchain is ubiquitous and decentralized — no monopoly or government controls it.
Below are the men and women who are building the NFT ecosystem of tools, apps, platforms and information resources.
They are laying the bricks to build new cathedrals.
They are Influencers with an appetite for change.
They are entrepreneurs, designers, collaborators, engineers, scientists, communicators, lawyers and regulators.
They are shaping the next wave of virtual extensions of ourselves (on our terms).
Some will rise up, and replace the current tech leaders.
I wrote software in the 80s when micro computers replaced typewriters (my 19 yr old son told me when he was 11 that “a typewriter is what they used in the olden days to send emails”).
I was at Burning Man festival in 2009 just after the Global Financial Crisis — when large timber structures representing banks were built and burnt down.
In the last 20 years, oil, motor vehicle and Telco giants have been replaced by Information and Tech companies:
As early adopters and influencers we see things that others don’t, we create new jigsaws from pieces spread across the world.
Please enjoy the summary below of the new individuals and startups shaping the NFT ecosystem.
Jodee Rich
PeopleBrowsr and Kred Coins CEO
The NFT space is just getting started.
NFTs (Non-fungible Tokens) are blockchain assets that are designed to be unique.
Ethereum’s ERC-721 protocol has become the standard for Distributed applications (Dapps) that provide content on the blockchain.
The best-known use of NFTs has been the creation of adorable Kitty Collectibles, by Benny Giang and the CryptoKitties team. We’ve also seen NFTs used to trade NYC street art (Streetcuts.co led by Jeffrey Caldwell) and even create new worlds, like Decentraland — the brainchild of Esteban Ordanoand Ari Meilich.
The Hackathon at NIFTY Hong Kong was won by Last of Ours, a project that promised to use NFTs to help bring people together to protect the world’s endangered animals.
Below are 100 Influencers who we believe could shape the emerging NFT ecosystem:
Our Influencers’ Kred Scores are included below.
Kred Influence Scores range from 1 to 1,000. They increase when other community members engage with the Influencer’s content.
Michael Anderson - Kred Score: 519
Company: Hashletes
Former product manager at Snap and Dropbox, Michael is the Co-Founder of Hashletes where he’s bringing Officially licensed NFLPA player tokens to blockchain.
Alex Atallah - Kred Score: 460
Company: OpenSea
OpenSea is the largest marketplace for curated Non-Fungible Tokens (collectibles, gaming items, and other virtual goods backed by a blockchain).
Spencer Bogart - Kred Score: 770
Company: Blockchain Capital
Spencer is a Partner at Blockchain Capital, the General Partner of Blockchain Capital’s venture funds. He Invests in people, companies, protocols and tokens building future of crypto.
Will Warren - Kred Score: 684
Company: 0x
Will is the Founder of the company. 0x is an open protocol for the decentralized exchange of Ethereum ERC721 tokens.
Arthur Camara - Kred Score: 622
Company: Axiom Zen
Co-founder of CryptoKitties. The company that made Crypto-Collectibles cute and broke the internet while doing so!
Olaf Carlson Wee
Company: Polychain Capital
CEO at Polychain Capital, the company that manages the world’s premier blockchain asset hedge fund, committed to exceptional returns for investors through actively managed crypto-asset portfolios.
Patrick Baron - Kred Score: 371
Company: Blockchain Consulting Group
Blockchain Consulting, Crypto-Collectible guru and crypto-curious.
Michael Casey - Kred Score: 795
Michael is a thought leader, blockchain public speaker, author, and a journalist. He is inspiring ideas for crypto and NFT entrepreneurs about self regulation and value added to society.
Jure Zih - Kred Score: 601
Company: 0xcert
CEO at 0xcert, the first open protocol built to support the future of digital assets, powered by the non-fungible tokens.
0xcert has launched The Non-fungible Alliance that aims to gather all NFT thinkers within a common platform. It exposes new NFT projects, grants early access to NFT solutions and a provides networking opportunities.
Scott Reyburn - Kred Score: 783
Company: The New York Times
Scott is a Journalist for The New York Times. He has written about Cryptocollectibles and the Art Market
Nellie Bowles - Kred Score: 880
Company: The New York Times
Nellie Bowles has written an article about CryptoKitties for The New York Times
Elisa Mala
Company: The New York Times
Elisa talks about the $140,000 worth CryptoKitty on her article for The New York Times
Gayatri Sarkar - Kred Score: 582
Company: Hackernoon
Gayatri contributes with articles about Cryptocollectibles and its influence on Sports and Digital World.
Brian Flynn - Kred Score: 625
Company: NFTY News
Brian is a collaborator in the Cryptocollectibles world. He’s focused on Non-fungible token design, research, and analysis at NFTY.News
Katharine Sharpe - Kred Score: 270
Company: Cointelegraph
Katharine writes NFT, Blockchain and Crypto Content for Cointelegraph.
Dan Chao - Kred Score: 334
Company: Crypto Assault
Blockchain gaming advocate building blockchain games. Every unit is a unique, tradable ERC-721 token.
Jeff Hayzlett - Kred Score: 977
Company: C-Suite Network, The Hero Club.
Author, speaker and primetime TV Host, Hall of Fame speaker, Best-Selling author and global business celebrity. Jeff uses branded NFTs as “Currency for Recognition” among his community of C-Suite Executives.
Jehan Chu - Kred Score: 977
Company: Kenetic Capital
Blockchain evangelist since 2013, Jehan is the founder of NIFTY HK, the Ethereum HK meetup and through Kenetic Capital supports well-known NFT platforms like Ethereum, Stellar and 0x.
Marguerite deCourcelle - Kred Score: 782
Company: Neon District
Also known as coin_artist, Marguerite is the CEO and co-founder of Blockade Games, where she is helping design and build games that integrate NFT and alternate reality components.
Chris Dixon - Kred Score: 971
Company: Polychain Capital
Board member, thought leader and investor in technology startups. Dixon wrote a valuable article about Crypto Tokens for Open Network Design.
Lisa Nestor - Kred Score: 646
Company: Stellar
Lisa Nestor is a Director of Partnerships, leading the development of Stellar.org’s network of financial partners. PeopleBrowsr based their Coin.Kred NFT Application on the Stellar blockchain network with Ethereum blockchain interoperability.
Andrea Doucette
Company: ForkedBlock
Andrea or better known as CryptoGal is a Crypto-Influencer, Blockchain Community Builder & Entrepreneur, passionate about Cybersecurity & Social Media.
Sean Dudley
Company: Animoca Brands
Senior product manager in gaming development. Now heading-up Animoca Brands’ fusion of Blockchain and Games, including WalletPet (NFT based Mobile Game).
Meltem Demirors - Kred Score: 788
Company: CoinShares
Cryptocurrency investor and advisor, and NFT advocate. On the blockchain-based finance side, she has had an intense focus on portfolio management and network development.
Noah Edelman
Company: Lucid Sight
Developing innovative monetization and marketing platforms for brands and game developers using emerging technologies including NFTs.
Benny Giang - Kred Score: 599
Company: Axiom Zen
Benny is one of the founders of CryptoKitties. The company that made Crypto-Collectibles cute and broke the internet while doing so! He’s an active and sought after speaker at any NFT related event.
John Egan - Kred Score: 673
Company: Vault
John Egan is CEO of Vault.io, a secure crypto wallet and dApp discovery platform.
Tom Emmer - Kred Score: 754
Minnesota Congressman and Co-chair of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus. Emmer is a political advocate for the future of blockchain technology.
Roham Gharegozlou - Kred Score: 730
Company: CryptoKitties
A champion thought leader and one of the Founders of CryptoKitties.
William Entriken - Kred Score: 645
Main Author of the ERC-721 Non-Fungible Token (“NFT”) Standard.
Sergey Labutin
Company: Ether Quest
Sergey is the Executive Director of Ether Quest, a fantasy game with RPG element that uses non-fungible, unique ERC-721 tokens.
Vitalik Buterin - Kred Score: 930
Rockstar Co-Founder of Ethereum. Father of all NFTs.
Dieter Shirley - Kred Score: 567
Company: Axiom Zen
The Co-founder and CTO of Axiom Zen (creators of CryptoKitties). Dieter is an early participant in the world of cryptocurrency, mining his first Bitcoin on his home computer in 2010.
James Ferguson
Company: Gods Unchained
Gods Unchained is the second NFT game created by James. He previously launched Etherbots and has also formed the company Fuel Games.
Ryan Colby - Kred Score: 710
Company: Token Fest
Ryan Colby is the Founder and CEO of Token Fest, the fastest growing Blockchain and Token Conference in North America. Launching in Israel in 2019.
Nick Salloum - Kred Score: 716
Company: CryptoKitties
Champion front end engineer and onesie fashion designer.
Nick Mudge — Kred Score: 496
Company: Mokens.io
Creator of Mokens.io, Nick is writing about composable Non-fungible Tokens (cNFTs), and standards such as ERC-721, ERC-998 and ERC-1538
Nick Johnson - Kred Score: 712
Nick is the lead developer of ENS, a system that allows DNS information to be stored and accessed in the Blockchain.
Jerry Brito - Kred Score: 872
Company: Coin Center
CEO of the leading industry association — Keeping cryptocurrency networks open, decentralized, and permissionless.
Thomas Friend
Company: After Burner
Inspirational influencer. Conference Advisory Board for Token Fest Events.
Chris Brogan - Kred Score: 989
Company: Chris Brogan Media
Chris Brogan Media delivers everything from speeches to workshops to onsite and online training around improving your digital marketing experience. Chris is an Advisor to Coin.Kred - Personalized NFT Coins.
Thomas Power - Kred Score: 973
Company: BICRA
Speaker & Business Coach, Thomas has a vast knowledge in Cryptoeconomics and NFTs. Author of Tokenomics, a book exploring the differences between ICOs, cryptocurrencies, and tokens.
Devin Finzer - Kred Score: 577
Company: OpenSea
Devin is one of the founders of OpenSea
Jodee Rich - Kred Score: 783
Company: PeopleBrowsr
Jodee is the founder of Kred Coins, the first personalized NFT Coin for sharing and connecting.
Karl Floersch - Kred Score: 686
Company: Ethereum
Ethereum Foundation co-leader and inspirational speaker, Karl designs and builds cryptoeconomic mechanisms using the Ethereum platform.
Jeffrey Caldwell
Company: StreetCuts
Co-Founder of Street Cuts, Jeffrey is bringing together a growing collective of celebrated street artists from around the world and helping them “coinify” their art into unique, shareable tokens.
Elizabeth Hansson
EtherBlockchain.io
Elizabeth is CTO of EtherBlockchain.io, a user-focused platform for blockchain exploration and decentralized trading. Her initiatives in blockchain have worked to promote user adoption and improve accessibility to crypto
Vlad Kartashov
Company: War Riders
Vlad is best described as anEntrepreneur, serial founder, angel investor and inventor. With War Riders he is building the first ever, post-apocalyptic MMO strategy game on the Ethereum network.
Sukrit Khatri - Kred Score: 754
Company: Kenetic
Blockchain and Tokenization Advisor, Sukrit was the organizer of NIFTY Hong Kong.
Chris Brummer - Kred Score: 705
Company: Institute of International Economic Law
Director and Professor with a focus on NFTs and blockchain.
Lane Rettig - Kred Score: 733
Company: Crypto NYC
Crypto NYC is a 100% blockchain-focused community, co-working space, and studio based in NYC.
Peter Van Valkenberg - Kred Score: 754
Company: Coin Center
Crypto lawyer and Director of Research at Coin Center.
Yi Yi - Kred Score: 607
Company: HyperDragons
HyperDragons uses Ethereum ERC-721 non-fungible tokens to create unique virtual dragons that players can trade.
Peter Kieltyka - Kred Score: 640
Company: Horizon Blockchain Games
CEO of Horizon Blockchain Games which makes blockchain-powered video games for dreamers, futurists, and digital citizens.
Simon Shiharev
Company: Playneta
Playneta is the game development studio behind CryptoBots.
Cyrus Lohrasbpour - Kred Score: 723
Company: LeanMarket
Also fondly called “your friendly neighbourhood angel investor”, Cyrus is the founder of LeanMarket and currently an Angel Investor based out of Palo Alto, SF.
Beatriz Helena Ramos
Company: Dada.NYC
Beatriz is the founder of Dada.NYC, a social platform where thousands of people speak to each other through drawings with a decentralized marketplace in the blockchain.
Mark Lurie - Kred Score: 573
Company: Codex Protocol
Mark is Building a cryptocurrency and blockchain infrastructure for the art and collectibles asset class
Dino Mihalopoulos - Kred Score 445
Company: DMR Capital
Dino (Konstantinos) in an SF based investor with a focus on blockchain based applications and projects. See what’s on his mind on his blog, Permissionless Life.
John Watkinson - Kred Score: 588
Company: Larva Labs
John is one of the Partners at Larva Labs, company behind CryptoPunks - unique collectable tokens on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-721 standard).
Matt Hall - Kred Score: 648
Company: Larva Labs
Matt is also a Partner at Larva Labs (creators of CryptoPunks).
Esteban Ordano - Kred Score: 720
Company: Decentraland
Founder & CTO at Decentraland - a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain where users can create, experience, and monetize their content and applications.
Muyao Shen — Kred Score: 601
Company: Fastmarkets
Muyao is a writer at Fastmarkets. She produces content about Cryptocollectibles, Blockchain as well as Cryptocurrency news in Asia for Forbes.
Randy Saaf - Kred Score: 710
Company: MLB Crypto Baseball
Also CEO at Lucid Sight, Randy is one of the creators of MLB Crypto Baseball, a dApp that shares official Major League Baseball Digital Collectibles with true digital ownership via NFTs.
Kush Parikh
Company: Player Tokens
CEO of Player Tokens, a sports focused technology company building a platform that will reinvent how fans and players interact with unique aspects of blockchain like transparency, ownership and scarcity.
Ben Brown — Kred Score: 855
Company: BlockExplorer
Ben writes for BlockExplorer and HuffPost. He’s exploring Non-fungible Tokens and Blockchain as main subjects.
Georgia Quinn - Kred Score: 718
Company: CoinList
General Counsel of CoinList; Co-founder of iDisclose, a legal technology company assisting small and startup businesses raise capital
Rene Schmidt - Kred Score: 640
Company: Chainbreakers
Blockchain mentor and project manager at Chainbreakers, the Blockchain Strategy-RPG.
Eben Smith
Company: Unblockable
CPO at Unblockable, a platform that empowers fans to buy, sell, and use blockchain based digital collectibles in the world of sports.
Don Tapscott - Kred Score: 957
Company: Blockchain R.I
Don Tapscott has authored 16 books and currently is the Executive Chairman of the Blockchain Research Institute, one of the world’s leading authorities on the impact of blockchain technology on business and society.
Matthias Tarasiewicz - Kred Score: 614
Company: RIAT
Matthias is a researcher for the future of Cryptoeconomics at RIAT, an independent institute working to research and design the future of decentralization.
Diana Ngô — Kred Score: 656
Company: CoinJournal
As a Writer, Diana is focused on Blockchain, Cryptocollectibles, Bitcoin and Fintech.
Rebecca Campbell — Kred Score: 578
Rebecca is a freelance journalist, exploring Bitcoin, Blockchain and NFTs as main topics.
Jack Tatar - Kred Score: 757
Author of “Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor’s Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond”, Jack is an angel investor and advisor to startups in the crypto asset community.
Sune Thorsen - Kred Score: 499
Company: Ember Sword
Founder and CMO at So Couch Studios. Working on Ember Sword, a modern blockchain free to play MMORPG.
Richard Titus - Kred Score: 740
Company: ARK
Thought leader, investor and advisor to the NFT Community.
Nick Tomaino - Kred Score: 769
Company: 1confirmation
Coinbase alumni, Tomaino is now the founder of 1confirmation, a blockchain investment fund with interests from some very impressive backers, including Mark Cuban.
Jake Tran
Etheremon
Jake Tran is the CEO of Etheremon where gamers train their own digital monsters (called Etheremon) and raise their values by interacting with other players.
Ian Utile - Kred Score: 805
The Future of Blockchain
Ian is a Business Development Executive and Entrepreneur, interested in Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. He has organized and hosted a number of forward thinking, livestreamed conferences based on “the futures” of cutting edge technologies.
Kris Vaivods
Company: Hash Rush
In 2013, Kris built his first Bitcoin mining rig and is now running two mining farms. Hash Rush combines blockchain and real-time strategy gaming to let gamers compete for cryptocurrency and other rewards.
Alex Van de Sande - Kred Score: 751
Company: Ethereum
Alex is a designer and front-end developer at Ethereum with expertise in universal logins and decentralized apps.
David Wachsman - Kred Score: 512
Company: Wachsman
David is Chief Executive Officer at Wachsman, a leading marketing and professional services firm for the blockchain industry.
David Moore
Company: Known Origin
David is the CEO at Known Origin, an Ethereum art platform using the ERC-721 non-fungible token standard.
Fred Wilson - Kred Score: 967
Company: Union Square Ventures
Thought leader and one of the first VCs to invest and proselytize NFTs and Digital Collectibles.
Jonny Howle - Kred Score: 585
Company: ConsenSys
Product Designer at ConsenSys, passionate about online identity.
David Yu
Company: Ecomi
With Ecomi, Yu identified the opportunity to bring tangible art, and collectible licenses into the next generation with secure digital art and collectibles on the blockchain.
Amber Baldet - Kred Score: 787
Company: Clovyr
Co-Founder and CEO of Clovyr, Amber is a leading voice on the practical application of blockchain technology within the financial industry and beyond.
Manuel Zeiler - Kred Score: 560
Company: Token Valley
Manuel wants to make Token Valley the most reliable network of information on blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies and ICOs.
Adrian Mathieu
Company: Ethereum World News
Adrian is a Writer at Ethereum World News. He follows topics such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and NFTs.
Brady Dale — Kred Score: 777
Company: Coindesk
As a reporter at Coindesk, Brady covers the Crypto scene, writing about Cryptocollectibles, Blockchain and more.
Jeffrey Zirlin
Company: Axie Infinity
Jeff is the community Lead of Axie Infinity, a decentralized game on the Ethereum blockchain that sold 900 ETH worth of NFT collectibles in its pre-sale.
Gianni D’Alerta - Kred Score: 731
Company: Block5 Capital
Co-founder at Block5 Capital, a blockchain capital investment company, Gianni has been organizing Podcasts to discuss Ethereum games development and Tokens.
Janet F. Sanchez
Company: Coinnounce
Janet writes about Cryptocollectibles for Coinnouce and a number of other blockchain publications.
Tiana Laurence - Kred Score: 622
Company: Factom
Blockchain Pioneer, investor, and startup founder. Tiana helped create Factom Inc., a software company that builds innovative technology within the blockchain space. She is the author of Blockchain for Dummies:
Wong Joon Ian - Kred Score: 837
Company: Coindesk
Technology Reporter exploring the NFT Ecosystem, Managing director at Coindesk (hosts of the annual Consensus summit, the largest blockchain technology gathering in the world) and co-host of Blockchain Week NYC.
Helen Partz
Company: Cointelegraph
Content Writer at Cointelegraph, an independent publication covering cryptocurrency, blockchain and cryptocollectibles.
Joseph Young - Kred Score: 833
Company: Hacked
Joseph is a Journalist in the Crypto Space. He currently writes about NFTs, Blockchain and more in his contributions to Bitcoin Magazine, CoinTelegraph, DeepDotWeb, Hacked.com, CryptoCoinsNews, Merkle and more.
Oelof de Meyer — Kred Score: 855
Company: The Crypto Collectors
Crypto Collectors Co-founder, Oelof also writes about Blockchain and Cryptocollectibles alongside partner, Adel de Meyer.
Adel de Meyer - Kred Score: 976
Company: The Crypto Collectors
Co-Founder of DAPS Coin and The Crypto Collectors, one of the leading publications covering everything in the blockchain gaming, technology and crypto collectibles sectors.
Kai Sedgwick - Kred Score: 656
Company: Bitcoin.com
ICO Analyst and Token Model Designer who turned into Bitcoin Reporter, writing about Bitcoin, Cryptocollectibles and more.
Jean-Pierre Buntinx — Kred Score: 784
Freelance Writer
Jean is currently writing for 5 different companies. He talks about Non-fungible Tokens, Crypto and how this is shaping the future of our economy.
Wilton Thornburg - Kred Score: 25
Company: Thotherzyde
Wilton is a Tech Lead and Chief Architect at Thotherzyde, a Blockchain and Crypto Company investing in NFTs.
Leigh Cuen - Kred Score: 770
Company: CoinDesk
Leigh is a tech reporter covering Blockchain technology and Cryptocollectibles for publications such as Newsweek Japan, International Business Times and Racked.
Company: ETHNews
Daniel is a full-time writer for ETHNews. Among all Blockchain related subjects, he writes about Cryptocollectibles and associated trends.
Chase Freo - Kred Score: 735
Company: Alto
CEO at Alto, a company that provides a suite of tools that connect games to the Blockchain, powered by the ERC-721 standard.
Join us on 20 February 2019 in NYC
In February 2019, PeopleBrowsr (the creator of Coin.Kred) is partnering with OpenSea and a number of leading businesses in the NFT space to present NFT.NYC at the PlayStation Theatre — Exploring the Non-Fungible Token Ecosystem.
Join industry leaders, influencers, developers and fans in NYC for all things Non-Fungible. Enjoy debates, thought leader talks, workshops and industry briefings from the leading names and brands in blockchain.
Get your early bird ticket, apply to speak or nominate a speaker at NFT.NYC