Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong makes it among the elite young influential minds in 2017 as he is named on Fortune’s 40 under 40 list.
As cryptocurrencies continue to attract mainstream and traditional investors, the digital currencies are also breaking into famous listings know to award young up and coming moguls.
Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong is the newest cryptocurrencies player to join Fortune’s 40 under 40 list.
Armstrong is in some good company as he finds himself next to Ethereum creator, 23-year old Vitalik Buterin. The young Russian debuted on the list last year already.
Blockchain industry Unicorn
The recognition for excellence in the digital currency sphere has seen Armstrong, 34, placed on the list at 10th, sharing that spot with Buterin.
In August, Armstrong becomes the industry's first “unicorn” after Coinbase raised $100 mln in August, valuing the company at $1.6 bln.
Armstrong and Coinbase have been thought to be responsible for much of the US’s uptake of cryptocurrencies with Coinbase being the most popular exchange in the country and one of the biggest globally.
Coinbase’s customers have more than doubled this year alone as they hype of digital currencies takes off. On top of that trading volume alone on things like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin is roughly eight times last year’s.
23-year-old wunderkind
Buterin again makes it into the list this year after debuting in 2016. The Russian-born software developer is compared to other great Entrepreneurs on the list such as Evan Spiegel or Brian Chesky.
Buterin made it onto the list last year when Ethereum’s market cap was just $1 bln, now, in his second year, the market cap of Ethereum sits at $30 bln.
Good company
It is not all entrepreneurs, tech visionaries and master businessmen on the list as at the top of the pile is the French prime minister, Emmanuel Macron, who is 39.
Serena Williams, star tennis player also cracks the top 10, with familiar faces such as Mark Zuckerberg and Chesky also involved near the top.
