The Defiant: 16 Notable Figures in the Crypto Industry of the Year

Author: The Defiant Team

Original Title: 《The Defiant's Defiers of 2021》

Compiled by: Creed, Chain Catcher

Recently, The Defiant compiled a list defining the personalities of the year in DeFi and web3. These KOLs are founders, hackers, and investors who help advance the open economy; politicians and regulators who lay the foundation for or threaten and restrict the industry's development; CEOs from DeFi-related industries who shape the crypto space with their global influence; and artists and community builders who push crypto technology further into mainstream culture.

Here is the specific list of 16 personalities of the year:

Pplpleasr, NFT Art Master

For Pplpleasr (Emily Yang), this has been an important year. She closely collaborated with projects in the field during last year's DeFi summer boom, making her well-known in this circle. Among her works, she created a promotional video for the launch of Uniswap V3, which significantly increased her fame. The edited version of the video was sold as an NFT for over $500,000. She later donated the proceeds to the Stand With Asians movement. PleasrDAO is a team of DeFi leaders, early NFT collectors, and digital artists who established this organization through the purchase. PleasrDAO has built a strong and charitable reputation by acquiring culturally significant works for philanthropic purposes.

Later that year, Emily created artwork for the Ethereum documentary "The Infinite Garden" and designed the cover for Fortune magazine's August/September 2021 issue, which was sold as a limited edition NFT for $1.3 million. She also collaborated with DJ Steve Aoki on a piece auctioned at Sotheby's. It has been a year for NFTs, and no artist shines brighter in the NFT space than Emily.

Samczsun, DeFi Hero

"U up?"

These two words from Samczsun are what any DeFi project founder fears the most, indicating he has discovered potentially catastrophic errors in some team's code output. However, he does not exploit these vulnerabilities for personal gain but chooses to help fix these errors to ensure the safety of DeFi users. He has indeed received some compensation, but as he stated in a March 2020 interview, he primarily does this for the challenge and fun.

In October 2020, this anonymous white-hat hacker joined the venture capital firm Paradigm as a research partner, but that did not stop him from combating DeFi crimes. Earlier this year, he discovered a vulnerability in one of the largest projects in the field, SushiSwap. He has identified vulnerabilities or potential vulnerabilities in projects including Curve Finance, ENS, Synthetix, Kyber Network, Nexus Mutual, Hegic Options, Aragon, and Finance.

Nayib Bukele, Crypto President

In 2021, no world leader shocked the crypto space more than 40-year-old Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. When Bukele embraced Bitcoin and made it legal tender in Central America, it marked a significant step forward for the grand vision of a digital currency alternative advocated by Satoshi Nakamoto. Now, as Salvadorans adapt to using Bitcoin in their daily lives, the real test has begun, and some resistance has already emerged. Bukele remains steadfast in his position, tweeting on December 21 to showcase a receipt for the purchase of 21 Bitcoins.

Jack Dorsey, Stubborn Bitcoin Believer

BTC extremists provide many interesting topics on Twitter's crypto theme, claiming that DeFi can never achieve what it is doing, and their radical closed-mindedness puts them in an awkward position. They refuse to acknowledge any innovation outside of Bitcoin (not a cult). Among them is a believer whose willful ignorance is particularly harmful, and he just happens to be the central figure of Twitter: Jack Dorsey.

As the former head of Twitter and CEO of Square (now Block), and as someone who sees the potential of blockchain as the underlying architecture of the financial system and value internet, Dorsey holds a unique position in supporting web3. However, he has not embraced the value created by DeFi but has chosen to attempt to create solely on Bitcoin. Time will tell whether he will succeed in completing many projects that others have tried and failed.

Cooper Turley, Full-Time DAO Expert

In the DAO space, Cooper Turley's presence seems ubiquitous. He is a strategic planner for the decentralized music streaming platform Audius and an advisor for Variant Fund, but that's not all. His full-time DAO career began in 2018, contributing to groups including MetaCartel and Moloch DAO. This led to the creation of Fire Eyes DAO, where he helps web3 startups develop their communities and launch tokens.

Coopahtroopa attributes much of his success to writing. By contributing to various publications, including this one, he has gained deep insights into the fields of DAO, DeFi, and NFTs. Through Fire Eyes, he has been closely involved in the launch of tokens like RARE for the NFT marketplace Superare. He also helped create Friends with Benefits, a token-gated community exclusive to FWB holders. This is just a small portion of the many projects he has advised and invested in. Additionally, he is an investor and advisor for The Defiant.

Chris Dixon, Ultimate DeFi VC

Dixon is a general partner at a16z, and in 2021, he went all-in on DeFi. He played a key role in raising a $2.2 billion cryptocurrency fund for the venture capital firm, which is its third fund, with projects supported by his team including Celo, OpenSea, and Compound. He led Andreessen Horowitz Crypto to become a gravitational force in the DeFi and web3 space, holding equity and/or token stakes in nearly every major project across every vertical. Dixon has also preached and clarified DeFi-related knowledge in many posts. In his latest article, he compared the emergence of "programmable blockchains" to the innovation of smartphones.

Do Kwon, Innovator and Ecosystem Builder

Do Kwon is the co-founder of Terraform Labs, which is building the Terra ecosystem, a mature and self-sustaining alternative financial system. At the core of the network is the UST stablecoin, which relies on an incentive mechanism and algorithmic system supported by the LUNA token, successfully maintaining its peg to the dollar without actually holding any fiat currency. No other algorithmic stablecoin has been able to do this for as long and as successfully, which is a significant achievement. UST recently surpassed a market cap of $10 billion.

In addition to the stablecoin, the Terra ecosystem includes the money market platform Anchor; the Mirror protocol, which allows users to trade synthetic assets; a decentralized exchange, Astroport; and other projects that make up this DeFi galaxy, along with users who call themselves LUNAtics. Terraform Labs has grown to a stage that has caught the SEC's attention, and the SEC is now reviewing the Mirror protocol. However, Kwon seems unfazed, later suing the SEC for "failing to comply with its own rules" here.

Daniele Sestagalli, Serial Entrepreneur

As an early Bitcoin believer, Sesta (as he likes to be called) has maintained a habit of must-read Twitter commentary after co-founding three notable projects. Wonderland, a stablecoin game backed by a treasury, is a fork of OlympusDAO; Abracadabra is a DeFi debt risk enterprise; and Popsicle Finance is a yield optimization platform. Popsicle Finance suffered a hack in August, losing $25 million. However, Sesta later reimbursed the victims and distributed 20% rewards to those holding all of its ICE tokens.

His projects, along with Olympus DAO, initiated a movement called DeFi 2.0, aimed at better aligning incentives between project teams and users.

Banteg, Ultimate Hacker

Banteg is the embodiment of the ultimate DeFi hacker. An anonymous developer with a rabbit avatar, his skills have made him a core member of the Yearn finance team. Under Banteg's leadership, Yearn has remained one of the DeFi protocols with the largest TVL and continues to innovate, striving to provide the best yields for users.

Banteg has also shown enthusiasm for supporting a broader ecosystem, proposing that a certain percentage of Yearn's treasury be allocated through Gitcoin grants to fund public goods on Ethereum, and recently advocating for the protocol to contribute to a new DAO dedicated to DeFi legal advocacy.

Elon Musk, King of Worthless Information Dissemination

Elon Musk wears many hats; for some, he is Tesla's Technoking, the CEO of Dogecoin, a co-founder of SpaceX, and the richest person in the world. Nevertheless, when it comes to crypto Twitter topics, Musk is primarily its most useless information disseminator.

Earlier this year, when he stated that Tesla would accept BTC as a payment method and hold the token on its balance sheet, Bitcoin surged 14%. Later, when he tweeted that Dogecoin was his favorite cryptocurrency, Dogecoin skyrocketed. In June, he changed his mind, tweeting that he was clearly breaking up with Bitcoin, accompanied by a broken heart emoji, causing BTC to drop 7%. In October, when Musk tweeted that he did not own any Shiba Inu coins, the price plummeted. He seems to enjoy his influence, but for investors, his whimsical behavior is an extremely risky thrill ride.

Cathie Wood, TradFi Queen

Cathie Wood's ARK Web x.0 ETF was the first ETF to invest in Bitcoin through Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust in 2015, and she has been a strong advocate for crypto. This month, she told CNBC that with institutions flooding in, Bitcoin's price could rise to $500,000, while Ethereum may be further undervalued. She is also keeping an eye on the launch of a BTC ETF and is a supporter of web3. Nevertheless, this year has been a test for Wood's ARK Innovation ETF, which includes companies like Tesla. The fund is down 21%, a stark contrast to its 152% return in 2020. The true test for fund managers is how they rebound from this. Given ARK's performance this year, she will have ample opportunity to showcase her resilience in 2022.

Brian Armstrong, CeFi King

It's challenging to strike a balance in the crypto space, but Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is striving to make his centralized cryptocurrency company the center of decentralized finance. Coinbase, together with Circle, was among the first to launch the most popular stablecoin in the field, USDC; it launched its own non-custodial wallet and is working to provide DeFi-derived interest rates through its interface. Coinbase clashed with the SEC when it sought to launch a lending product. On Twitter, Armstrong accused the SEC of being "rude" and stifling innovation.

When operating under the watchful eye of CeFi, more rules and restrictions must be considered, especially since Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., is a publicly traded company.

Mark Zuckerberg, Worst Web2

This is not because he embraced the metaverse and changed Facebook's company name to Meta, although that is distasteful. Nor is it because he gave an unbelievable testimony to Congress in October, after whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed that Facebook ignored its employees' requests to address the rampant lies and racism on the massive platform. No, Zuckerberg's worst internet moment was the video of him waterboarding while holding an American flag on July 4th. Nothing embodies the arrogance and pretentiousness of this 37-year-old billionaire more than that video, a "classic" that never goes out of style.

Alexis Ohanian, Best Web2

Reddit co-founder Ohanian is leading the web2 social network in taking significant steps to integrate and support web3, collaborating with the Ethereum Foundation to provide development resources for scaling tools. It has also launched its community points on the Ethereum testnet. Reddit is also working with Layer 2 Arbitrum to explore whether it can launch its community points within its platform.

Since resigning from Reddit in 2020, Ohanian has actively invested in tech and blockchain companies. This year, his venture capital fund Seven Seven Six announced a $200 million initiative with Polygon to support cross-projects between social media and Web3. Ohanian has long advocated for a more open internet, having spoken before Congress and lobbied the FCC to support net neutrality.

Gary Gensler, DeFi Villain

The chair of the SEC is a rare role, as he is a regulator who truly understands the complexities of blockchain. This does not mean he is lenient towards crypto, as he has stated that he uses a series of initiatives to prevent the industry from operating "beyond the borders."

He has vowed to "protect" investors from the dangers of airdrops, 10x returns, and lucrative yields while leaving enough room for imperfect financial instruments like futures-based ETFs, which the crypto community has pushed back against.

So far, this has primarily formed a threat, but Gensler has indeed defined nearly all crypto products as securities or contracts regulated by existing laws. This is more than any other major regulatory agency has done.

Hester Peirce, Enlightened Regulator

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, also known as "Crypto Mom," has been one of the most vocal advocates for establishing a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies that provides necessary protections for investors while not stifling innovation in this burgeoning industry.

One of her biggest contributions is the proposed token safe harbor plan. This plan would provide blockchain startups with a three-year grace period without the fear of being sued, giving projects enough time to meet the agency's requirements. This means that their networks must be sufficiently decentralized for the corresponding tokens not to be considered securities.

This year, she will continue to push for more friendly crypto regulation. Earlier this month, Peirce expressed disappointment that Gary Gensler's regulatory agenda still fails to include clarifications on digital assets.