Crypto Founders Who Have Worked on Multiple Projects

After 2009 when the first decentralized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, many other founders emerged and came up with new projects. These projects either sought to be better than Bitcoin or cover the niches in Bitcoin.

Although cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain technology, many individuals are becoming more innovative in the industry. These founders come from various backgrounds including, development, economics, or the corporate world. Their backgrounds and experiences inspire them to develop unique ideas to solve real-world problems with blockchain technology.

Every successful cryptocurrency project has a team of developers supporting its growth and development. Each of these teams is led by either one of the above or more CEOs considered heroes for the promising new cryptos. These heroes are united by the ability to notice, seize and act on various technological opportunities for our future.

This article will look at some of the crypto founders, particularly those whose contribution lies in more than one project.

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• Charles Hoskinson

Projects: Cardano, BitShares, Input-Output (IOHK) and Ethereum

Charles Hoskinson, a mathematician, ventured into the crypto world in 2013 via Invictus Innovations, co-founded with Dan Larimer. They both launched the BitShares network, a cryptocurrency platform that is designed as a decentralized autonomous corporation.

Later in 2013, Hoskinson met fellow Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and made him one of the first eight Ethereum co-founders. However, he left the project in 2014 after a conflict of interest. Hoskinson visioned Ethereum as a profit entity, whereas Buterin wanted it to be a non-profit organization.

After exiting Ethereum, Hoskinson and a former ETH employee, Jeremy Wood, created Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK). The vision behind IOHK was to be a third-party development company that would aid governments, organizations, and government institutions in creating blockchains and cryptocurrencies.

IOHK is currently mainly involved in its smart contract project Cardano (ADA), developed in 2017, competing with Ethereum. Charles’ interest in blockchain has seen him make tremendous contributions towards blockchain research labs at the University of Edinburgh and Tokyo Institute of Technology.

• Jean-Louis Van der Velde

Projects: Tether and Bitfinex

Jean-Louis Van de Velde is a technologist and serial entrepreneur with thirty years of experience in the international high-tech industry. Natively from the Netherlands, he left in 1985 to attend university in Taiwan. He has been a co-founder of several companies, from software design and development to hardware. He also occupies top management positions in various private and public corporations in IT, manufacturing, and distribution.

In 2013, Jean-Louis co-founded Bitfinex, the pioneer of digital asset trading. Bitfinex’s popularity is attributed to partnerships with law enforcers and traditional banks to fuel innovations and developments in the Fintech space.

Additionally, JL is the CEO of Tether (USDT), the latest straightforward payment clearing system backed by the US dollar.

• Gavin Wood 

Projects: Ethereum, Web3 Foundation, Kusama, and Polkadot

Dr. Gavin James Wood, a computer scientist, has several projects under his name, including Ethereum, Polkadot, and Kusama. Gavin Wood was born in Lancaster, England, and pursued his studies up to the Ph.D. level.

He was the Chief Technology Officer and also co-founded Bitcoin’s most prominent rival, Ethereum. Before the development of ETH, Gavin Wood was a research scientist at Microsoft. In 2014, he wrote the Yellow Paper that described Ethereum’s virtual machine. However, he left Ethereum in 2016.

Gavin Wood also founded the Web3 Foundation, an organization aimed at decentralized internet infrastructure development while being non-profit. The foundation started the Polkadot network. In contrast to Ethereum’s Proof of Work system, Polkadot operates on Proof of Stake and enables developers to create their blockchain networks.

• Brian Armstrong 

Projects: GiveCrypto and Coinbase

Brian Armstrong is a 38-year-old billionaire American business mogul and investor who is presently the CEO of Coinbase. Brian A. is a computer science and economics graduate. He is renowned for his policy of maintaining a work environment free from political activism.

Brian Armstrong’s career started while working as a developer for leading organizations like IBM, Deloitte, and Airbnb. He became well-versed in software development, CSS, and Java programming languages during his career and education.

He launched Coinbase in 2012 using the $150,000 investment he got from the Y Combinator startup accelerator. Coinbase allows users to buy cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum.

Moreover, he co-founded GiveCrypto – a non-profit organization that distributes crypto donations to impoverished people worldwide to motivate them through investment opportunities.

• Jed McCaleb

Projects: Stellar, Ripple, and Mt. Gox

At 46 years old, Jed McCaleb is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He is a pioneer in the blockchain world who helped in the launch of three famous crypto firms. In 2010, Jed developed Mt. Gox, the first significant Bitcoin exchange but later sold it a year later.

Moreover, he is a co-founder and CTO of Stellar. Before McCaleb co-founded Stellarly, he initially worked as CTO and also co-founded Ripple. Stellar is a non-profit philanthropist organization that it launched in July 2014. Stellar’s vision was to create cross-border money transactions related to virtual assets and fiat currencies.

In January 2018, McCaleb owned Ripple tokens worth $20 billion, which ranked him as the 40th richest person globally, according to Forbes.

Wrapping-Up

Today, there are more than 10,000 crypto projects. However, a few crypto founders opt to remain anonymous for well-known reasons, leaving people guessing who they could be. Nonetheless, some prefer to openly own their projects and get all the credit for the success of these projects.

For each of the innovators we have looked at, their victory is to spot, analyze, innovate and implement effective strategies for better human living. The crypto world would not be where it is today if it were not for these innovative founders.

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Cryptocurrencies are here for good and seemingly the new future. Despite their volatility,  these individuals saw them as viable investment opportunities when writing this guide.