The cryptocurrency sector continues to make waves, as 14 of the 30 honorees in Forbes’ 2025 “30 Under 30” Finance Category are young crypto and blockchain innovators. This year’s list, unveiled on December 4, highlights the industry’s influence, with nine blockchain-related companies represented by 10 male and four female founders.
Leading Innovators in Blockchain and Crypto
Among the honorees is Shayne Coplan, the 26-year-old founder of Polymarket, a decentralized betting platform renowned for its innovative prediction markets, including those on the U.S. presidential election. Polymarket gained traction for forecasting Donald Trump’s victory, despite tight polls showing Kamala Harris as a strong contender.
However, Coplan’s journey hasn’t been without hurdles, including an FBI raid Polymarket claims was politically motivated.
Other notable entries include:
- Kaledora Kiernan-Linna and Marco Antonio Ribeiro, co-founders of Ostium Labs, and Sunny Aggarwal and Dev Ojha, founders of Osmosis, both of whom are making strides in the decentralized exchange (DEX) ecosystem.
- Cindy Leow, co-founder of Drift Labs, also represented DEX pioneers.
- The Cortex Labs founding team — Soroush Ghodsi Boushehri, Stefan Stokic, and Jake Sylvestre — stood out for their work on artificial intelligence-enabled blockchains.
- Tux Pacific, founder of Entropy, was recognized for developing on-chain AI agents.
- Austin King and Tyler Tarsi, co-founders of Omni Network, earned a spot for their advancements in multichain decentralized app protocols.
- Jason Zhao of Story and Uma Roy of Succinct were highlighted for their contributions to intellectual property tokenization and zero-knowledge proof programming.
Crypto’s Rising Influence in Finance
This year’s performance matches that of 2024, with nine companies featured, though it has not yet reached the sector’s 2021 peak, when Forbes recognized 21 blockchain leaders, including now-disgraced figures like Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison.
Regulatory Outlook Under Trump Administration
The future of U.S. cryptocurrency regulation could shift significantly under President-elect Donald Trump. Trump, who has expressed pro-crypto sentiments and launched World Liberty Financial, is expected to reduce enforcement actions against cryptocurrency businesses.
Speaking at a New York legal conference, legal experts, including Scott Hartman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, indicated that the Justice Department may reallocate resources to other priorities, such as immigration enforcement, while maintaining oversight of financial fraud.
The SEC, often criticized for its “regulation-by-enforcement” strategy, is also under scrutiny. A lack of clear regulatory frameworks has prompted calls for reform, with some suggesting a shift under Trump’s leadership could foster innovation in the blockchain sector.
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