crypocurrencyCrypto industry has many innovative-minded people who have been holding it since its conception. While many still associate Bitcoin trading with cyber-crimes, the technology behind it has been empowered by several cryptocurrency miners and traders for decades. These influential people remind us of the fact that Bitcoins and other digital coins are here to stay, and they seem like the next world order.

Even central governments have begun adopting the innovative idea and transact in cryptos. Who knew that Satoshi Nakamoto’s innovation would lead to such a significant technological shift? Although the invention may not stand on its technical prowess, it needs influencers to spread the awareness, build confidence, and set precedents for this digital market to gain full potential. Therefore, this article lists some of the most influential Bitcoiners that have dominated the industry for long.

1. Satoshi Nakamoto

Up to date, no one has ever got the true identity of the Bitcoin creator. There have been many speculations on Nakamoto’s real identity as the pseudonym has been used to mask the real face of this genius mind. From various sources, the person could be a man, a woman, or even a group of people. We might never know the truth forever. However, the vital point is the invention by this person cannot be changed. Therefore, even if you believe the person to be a secret CIA program produced to bring the fiat currency to a standstill, the truth is that the digital currency has opened floodgates for decentralized applications that cannot be controlled by the central banks and governments.

2. Nick Szabo

Nick Szabo, a computer scientist, legal scholar, and a cryptographer, is known for his research in digital contracts and currency. In 1998, he designed a mechanism called ‘bit gold’, which is a decentralized digital currency. The tool did not gain much support at its start until ten years later when it helped to bring Bitcoin advent. Nick is also credited for inventing the term ‘smart contracts. There have been rumours circulating that Nick Szabo is Satoshi Nakamoto, although he has denied it repeatedly. In an interview with one of the financial authors, Nick said he is afraid people get it wrong doxing him as Satoshi, but he is used to it. The financial author claimed that Nick is the only person who has the mind to be a Bitcoin creator.

3. Hal Finney

Hal is a renowned cryptographer and a Bitcoin pioneer. He created the first proof-of-work system in 2004 even before Bitcoin came into existence. In 2009, Hal participated in the first-ever Bitcoin transaction sent by Satoshi Nakamoto. Additionally, he ran a successful contest to break the export-grade encryption used by Netscape. He was a regular poster on cypherpunks listserv. Hal retired in 2011 after working as a developer for the PGP Corporation. After his retirement, he continued to program for the corporation, working on an experimental software called bcflick that uses Trusted Computing to improve Bitcoin wallet security. He died in 2014.

4. Gavin Andresen

Gavin is also one of the prominent members of Bitcoin trading after collaborating with Satoshi to develop its source code. The source code repository and the alert were handed to Gavin by Satoshi himself before Satoshi completely disappeared from the public. Therefore, Gavin uses the alert key to broadcast messages about crucial network issues to all Bitcoin clients. In April 2014, he resigned from the post of the head Bitcoin developer to focus on his new position as the Chief Scientist of the Bitcoin Foundation. The foundation standardizes and promotes digital currency trading globally. Gavin has been influential in spreading his knowledge about the misunderstood core technology.

5. Adam Back

Adam Back is a cryptographic pioneer who has worked on e-cash protocols since 1995. He invented the hashcash proof-of-work and decentralized mining functions used in the Bitcoin industry. His hashcash invention has been used severally to combat blog spamming. Furthermore, Adam Back worked as a developer at Zero-Knowledge Systems’ Freedom Network that was a precursor to Tor. He is currently the CCO at Spondoolies Tech Ltd and the Blockstream president. He has been actively commenting on the scalability, privacy, and Bitcoin mining technology. His activeness makes him an influential Bitcoiner.

6. Andreas Antonopoulos

No matter how hard you may find to understand Bitcoin mining and trading, Andreas would try his best to make the whole idea easier for an average beginner. Andreas is a technologist, entrepreneur and an influential public speaker. His acceptance of cryptocurrencies has won him a place in many young investors at technology and security conferences globally. Andreas authored “Mastering Bitcoin”, a technical guide to understanding Bitcoin, and he is known for using the phrase “The Internet of Money” from 2013 to describe Bitcoin. Furthermore, he has launched several community-based projects, widely known for his Bitcoin-related articles, and a permanent host on the Let’s Talk Bitcoin podcast.

7. Patrick Byrne

Patrick is the CEO of e-retailer giant Overstock.com and has always been the unconventional person in the cryptocurrency world. He is often referred to as ‘Bitcoin Messiah’ and the ‘Scourge of Wall Street’. Overstock.com company was the first to accept Bitcoin payment even before Microsoft and Dell. Since then, Byrne has been an active member of cryptocurrency, and he is the reason Wall Street will adopt Bitcoin technology faster than any other place. He also launched TO to revolutionize the financial industry with blockchain technology. However, he recently announced his plans of taking a leave to attend to his medical issues.

8. Roger Ver

Roger Ver was the first man to solely start investing in Bitcoin startups and help fund the seed rounds for the entire first Bitcoin generation. The Bitcoin community knows him as ‘Bitcoin Jesus’, and he suggests that Bitcoin is the perfect fit for voluntaryism, which indicates that human interactions should be by mutual consent. His Memorydealers company was the first mainstream company to accept Bitcoin payment. Moreover, Roger launched Bitcoinstore.com, the first website to accept Bitcoin payment, and Bitcoinbountyhunter.com that rewards people for catching cyber-criminals.

9. Barry Silbert

This is also an influential name in Bitcoin. Barry is the founder of Digital Currency Group which focusses on developing Bitcoin infrastructure through investing, startup, and growing Bitcoin companies. He has also supported over 40 Bitcoin-related startups and his Bitcoin Opportunity Corp. Barry has also invested in different companies, including BitGo, BitPay, BitPesa, Gyft, Kraken, Ripple, TradeBlock, and Bitwala.

10. Pieter Wuille

Pieter Wuille joined the Bitcoin Core development team in May 2011 after discovering about Bitcoin in November 2010. Currently, he is behind his fellow Core developer Wladimir van der Laan with over 650 commits on GitHub to the Bitcoin code. Wuille is responsible for Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIP) 30, 32, 42, and 62. He is also the author of libsecp256k1, which is a library for efficient elliptic curve cryptography. Before joining Blockchain, Pieter worked as a Site Reliability Engineer at Google.

The Bottom Line

The list of the influential Bitcoiners is longer than the one given above. There are other influential leaders such as Erick Voorhees, Rose Ulbricht, Max Keiser, and Brian Forde that you may want to learn about. However, the list reminds us that the Bitcoin industry is still growing and is likely to give more new faces. Investing in bitcoin pays significantly. Do what it takes, and learn more about cryptocurrencies by checking A1 Credit, to get started.