The cryptocurrency branch, which has not yet completed its infancy, has witnessed major developments in a short time. While years ago only Bitcoin and a few altcoins were mentioned, today the crypto world resembles a vast sea.
In this article, we will discuss five names that play a major role in the fate of cryptocurrencies, one of the fastest growing markets in the world, whose total value exceeds 2 trillion dollars in a short time.
Satoshi Nakamoto: The mysterious creator of Bitcoin
At the top of our list is Satoshi Nakamoto, the most mysterious figure in the cryptocurrency world and the creator of Bitcoin. It is still unknown who this person is and whether it is a single individual or a cluster. In fact, it is sometimes questioned whether this legendary character is real or not. As if Satoshi Nakamoto is just a pseudonym?
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The person who developed the Bitcoin protocol and published the first version of the software is known as “Satoshi Nakamoto”. However, there are countless speculations about the real identity behind this nickname, and many theories have been developed to reveal his identity:
Nick Szabo is one of the names thought to be “Nakamoto”. Szabo is a well-known cryptographer and lawyer, as well as a pioneer of smart contract technology. The work of Szabo, who developed the decentralized virtual currency Bit Gold, was published only a few months before Nakamoto’s Bitcoin article.
Craig Wright is one of the most controversial figures who claims that he is the real Satoshi Nakamoto. This Australian entrepreneur declared himself the creator of Bitcoin in 2015. He is known for having filed more than 150 patents related to distributed ledger technology, smart contracts and six cryptocurrencies.
Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum genius
Vitalik Buterin rose to fame as the creator of Ethereum, the world’s second largest digital currency by market capitalization. A true genius, Buterin wrote his first computer game using Excel macros at the age of 7, and started developing full-fledged games by learning C++ at the age of 10. He was introduced to blockchain technology in 2011, and in 2013, realizing the shortcomings of Bitcoin, he had the idea of creating his own cryptocurrency. He funded Ethereum through an online crowdsale in 2014 and launched the project.
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While Buterin is considered the person who started the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) craze, he open-sourced the Ethereum code, allowing hundreds of developers to develop their own projects on this platform. Tokens created on Ethereum are named according to the ERC-20 (Ethereum Request For Comments 20) standard. Today, there are thousands of ERC-20 based tokens.
Changpeng Zhao: Founder of Binance
Chinese-Canadian Changpeng Zhao is known as one of the leading names in the cryptocurrency industry. CZ is the founder and CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume in 2018. Zhao, known as CZ in the cryptocurrency community, has a large follower base on Twitter. According to unofficial information, CZ’s total wealth is 33 billion dollars.
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CZ, who started his career specializing in trading, first worked in the IT department of the New York Stock Exchange and then moved to Bloomberg, where he developed a service for traders. Following these experiences, he founded Binance and the exchange became the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in just 180 days.
Today, Zhao faces many investigations, especially in the USA. CZ received huge penalties across the ocean.
Charlie Lee: Creator of Litecoin
Charlie Lee is an iconic figure in the cryptocurrency world, a talented Japanese-born programmer and computer scientist.
Lee is known as the creator of Litecoin, the first altcoin in cryptocurrency history. Before developing Litecoin, Lee worked as a software developer at Google. He was introduced to blockchain technology by reading an article about Bitcoin in 2011.
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This new technology seemed so different to him that he quickly bought one Bitcoin for $30. In October of the same year, he created Litecoin, an open-source cryptographic protocol as an early spinoff of Bitcoin, and began working on the Coinbase exchange in the process.
In the summer of 2017, Charlie Lee left Coinbase and devoted all his strength to the development of Litecoin. The main purpose of Litecoin is to facilitate online payments. Additionally, it is known that developers can create their own applications on Litecoin’s blockchain, just like on Ethereum.
Elizabeth Stark: Founder of Lightning Labs
Elizabeth Stark appears as a valuable figure in the cryptocurrency world as the founder and CEO of Lightning Labs. Stark led the development of the Lightning Network, which aims to solve Bitcoin’s scalability problems. Lightning Network enables cryptocurrencies to be used more widely in daily life by accelerating Bitcoin processes and reducing costs.
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Stark believed that Bitcoin and blockchain technology will transform financial systems in the future. He saw great potential in decentralized finance (DeFi) and argued that the Lightning Network would play a critical role in this transformation. Under his leadership, Lightning Labs developed this technology, making the use of Bitcoin more widespread and accessible.
Elizabeth Stark’s visionary approach and innovative work have made a huge impact in the cryptocurrency world. Under his leadership, the Lightning Network accelerated the adoption of Bitcoin and is considered an important step for the future of cryptocurrencies.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should do their own research when making decisions.