6 Absolute Legends of the Cryptocurrency Industry

After the infographic on cryptocurrency “Kings”, it’s only fair that we do a follow up on the legends of the cryptocurrency community. As you can imagine, there are already a couple of lists on this topic like the 100 Most Influential People in Crypto and the Forbes’ Richest People in Cryptocurrency. However, we want to make something different.

Most of these articles focus on the biggest earners or on the genius coders behind the blockchain companies. But we want to highlight the people who fight for the idea of cryptocurrencies. People who have become legends in the community because of their efforts to improve the adoption and position of digital coins in the market. Sure, some of these individuals have made fortunes in cryptocurrencies, but that is not why they are on our list. So, without further ado, here are six absolute legends of the cryptocurrency world. Enjoy.

Tim Draper, the Silicon Valley Legend

It’s only suitable that we start with Tim Draper. Tim needs no introduction; he’s a legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist who founded the Draper University in 2012. Draper has quickly become one of the most prominent figures in the blockchain world.

A longtime advocate of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, Draper has attracted significant attention to himself and his activity in the cryptocurrency world. Although many in the industry had their first introduction to Tim Draper through his involvement in crypto coins, his prominence comes long before the age of blockchain. He comes from a long line of venture capitalists, being the third member of his family to go down this road.

On June 27th, 2014, Draper purchased around 30,000 bitcoins (estimated to be worth around $19 million at the time) from US Marshals seizure of the Silk Road assets. At the peak of Bitcoin’s price in 2017, his purchase was worth nearly $600 million. Tim Draper is well-known for his advocacy and support of Bitcoin. On January 27th, 2015, Draper bet around $400,000 that Bitcoin would come back from its recent drop. Fast forward to three years later, and it’s clear that he has put his money on the right horse.

In late 2017, the Draper University introduced a blockchain and cryptocurrency focused course, the Draper Blockchain Intensive. This course is one of the first of its kind and has attracted the attention of hundreds of entrepreneurs and business leaders from around the world.

Tim Draper’s success in the blockchain investment and the venture capital world has helped build him into one of the most influential figures in the cryptocurrency community. In addition to this, Draper has brought awareness of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to millions.

Don Tapscott, the Guru

Don Tapscott, one of the world’s leading authorities on business strategy, is the co-founder of The Blockchain Research Institute. He has authored over 15 books, including Blockchain Revolution and Wikinomics. Tapscott is currently the fourth most influential management thinker in the world according to Thinkers 50. He is also a co-founder of the blockchain Research Institute.

The World Economic Forum report predicts that by 2025, 10% of GDP will be stored on blockchains or blockchain-related technology. This is something that everyone involved in business should take notice of. Obviously, the potential here is limitless. The blockchain is an ingeniously simple, revolution­ary protocol that enables anonymous and secure transactions by maintaining a tamperproof public ledger of value.

Check out this video where Don explains how blockchain will transform every industry, in every part of the world. Here is a small excerpt from the video, “An immutable, unhackable distributed database of digital assets. This is a platform for truth, and it’s a platform for trust. The implications are staggering, not just for the financial-services industry, but also right across virtually every aspect of society. You pick any industry, and this technology holds huge potential to disrupt it.”

Later he adds, “You’ve got all the smartest venture capitalists, the smartest programmers, the smartest business executives, the smartest people in banking, the smartest people from the government, the smartest entrepreneurs all over it. Blockchain technology is powering our future. As the technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, open software platforms like Ethereum, and disruptive companies like Ripple, it’s too important to ignore.”

The blockchain is one of the most fundamental inventions in the history of computer science. If you want to know what’s going to happen in the future, look no further than Don Tapscott. His predictions have been on point so far.

Michael Novogratz, the Defender of Crypto

Former Wall Street fund trader, Michael Novogratz has always been an important supporter of cryptocurrencies. Novogratz has made frequent appearances on network TV since 2014 to boast about the potential of cryptocurrencies to become the leading source of financial innovation in the world.

He is known for his outlandish predictions that, when correct, heightened his respectability. For example, Novogratz was an early predictor of Bitcoin’s price surge, publicly declaring that it would end 2017 at $10,000. Now a billionaire on the Forbes 400 list, Mike says that he is holding 20% of his net worth in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

As early as 2015, he had bought Ethereum currency at around a dollar a coin. He cashed out some of his cryptocurrency to buy a G550 jet, a seaplane, and a Georg Baselitz sculpture. “For the first time, I kind of spoiled myself,” said Michael. Novogratz has announced that he’s launching a merchant bank focused on cryptocurrencies and blockchain initiatives. Galaxy Digital LP is the name of the bank, and it appears to be the new iteration of his idea for a crypto hedge fund.

According to a Bloomberg report, Novogratz is taking all of his crypto assets, estimated around $400 million, to his new project. In other words, he’s all in. A merchant bank is similar to an investment bank in that it provides access to investment markets without the features of standard banking. They are not available to the general public.

Matt Siebenthal, the Young Gun

BlockWealth Capital Founder, Matt Siebenthal, is a true believer and proponent of blockchain technology. Perhaps rightly so, as he is rumored to have amassed a fortune from early investments in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology companies. Siebenthal had so much conviction in the future applications of blockchain that he left Wall Street to focus on the technology.  It was around this time that he discovered the immense potential of blockchain and decided that’s where his experience in finance and his interest in technology would merge.

Despite having such conviction, he was one of the few that called the correction in the cryptocurrency markets back in the third quarter of 2017, citing valuation concerns and suggesting a correction in Bitcoin to $7,500 or lower before another bull run. Siebenthal cautioned many hedge funds that were rushing in with cryptocurrency markets near all-time highs. Labeled a bear in many articles online, Siebenthal is “extremely bullish” on the crypto markets.

One of the primary reasons investors have been clamoring for a seat at the table and the opportunity to work with Siebenthal is because of the way he went about launching BlockWealth Capital. Siebenthal’s lucrative investments in the early-stage blockchain-technology companies and cryptocurrency enabled him to start BlockWealth Capital with his own money.

With so many crypto hedge funds raising hundreds of millions from investors and VC’s, Siebenthal’s contrarian approach is refreshing. Not living off of the management fees from investors is the main determinant of his earnings being well… “earnings.” Mention this novel idea to other hedge fund managers, and you’ll see them go cross-eyed.

Recently, Matt said, “Blockchain Technology is changing the world. It has nearly infinite use cases, and the potential to disrupt almost every industry on the planet. Why shouldn’t the outdated and lopsided relationship between fund managers and investors begin to see a revolution as well?”

He makes a good point. Hedge fund investors want managers to invest with their interests in mind. But, because of the fee structures and path dependence, most fund managers over the past few decades have ended up being permitted to maximize their own interests, with the interests of the Limited Partners becoming a distant third (after the VC’s and themselves).

“Every smart CEO I’ve known has viewed VC money as a deal with the devil. In exchange for the money, you commit to constant interference and endless pressure to deliver the goods earlier rather than better,” says Matt.

Asset managers have a big incentive to increase assets under management, but there is considerable evidence that fund size is negatively correlated to fund returns (see the Kauffman report). Put simply, big funds have performed worse, and yet many new funds push hard to get as much capital through the door as they can.

When asked about the projects, BlockWealth is currently investing in the fund. Siebenthal declined to comment stating, “Unfortunately, I can’t go into detail, but I am thrilled about the potential growth in this space.” Siebenthal “remembers hearing of Bitcoin in 2011 from a former basketball teammate working in San Francisco,” but says he didn’t pay too much attention to it at the time. It wasn’t until reading Don Tapscott’s books that he realized the full potential of blockchain technology.

Ronnie Moas, the Analyst

Renowned stock picker and founder of Standpoint Research, Ronnie Moas, has been giving fortune-making stock recommendations for the past 20 years. Moas developed his own 155-variable equity valuation model over a five-year period in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In fact, Moas was so good that he has been ranked in the Top 5 stock pickers worldwide (by % gain) for over a decade.

Moas has quickly become a trusted voice in the cryptocurrency space, especially when it comes to valuations and price forecasts. He has been spot on with a number of predictions in 2017 – which is extraordinary if you consider that he only started analyzing the cryptocurrency market this year. He is calling for the cryptocurrency market cap to soar to $2 trillion over the next ten years.

In a new interview, Moas walked CoinDesk through his forecast, explaining how it stems from his fundamental analysis of the capital markets and the broader macroeconomic trends he now sees in place.

In the broadest sense, Moas sees the current state of the cryptocurrency market as a direct parallel to Silicon Valley during the 1990s, when a massive surge of innovation created new technologies that transformed the way we work and live and ushered in a period of enormous wealth creation.

He explained, “I am not any more concerned with bitcoin being at a record high than Amazon or Google investors were concerned when those share prices jumped hundreds of percent and hit $100 and $200 many years ago. Today, both of those stocks are above $900. The question is not where we are at – it is where are we going? I do not think we are in a bubble.”

But how does Moas get to the $2 trillion market cap for cryptocurrency in his forecast?

He begins by looking at the $200 trillion that is currently invested in global capital markets, including all major asset classes like cash, stocks, bonds, and gold. Moas, who also does traditional equity analysis, begins his market breakdown with shares, which he believes are currently overvalued.

According to Moas, three-quarters of the names in the S&P 500 are trading at least 18 times earnings, which is higher than his value threshold of 12 times earnings. He also adds that we haven’t had a stock market correction in 20 months. On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is currently losing 1 to 2% per year due to inflation. Moas also points out that the dollar has lost half its value since he was in high school 35 years ago.

From a global perspective, where most people don’t have access to U.S. dollars, Moas believes the case for cryptocurrency is even more compelling. He says, “Now, imagine what they think of their own local currencies elsewhere in the world. Imagine you live in Venezuela and you’re keeping your money under the mattress. Would you rather leave it there in Venezuelan bolivar or would you rather put it in bitcoin? It’s not going to take you very long to make that decision.”

Breaking his thesis down further, Moas believes that a conservative estimate is that at least 1% of the $200 trillion that is now tied up in stocks, cash, gold, and bonds will migrate into cryptocurrencies over the next decade.

In that case, Moas claims, “Bitcoin could end up with a market capitalization that is more than Amazon and Apple combined.” Under this scenario, that would mean that the current market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies would naturally grow. And if Ronnie’s market capitalization targets are correct, investors would then receive a 1,250% return on their cryptocurrency investments made today.

But he adds one major caveat to that prediction, “You’ve got to be in the right names.” He went on to add that while there are indeed risks involved in investing in cryptocurrency, those risks are, in his view, outweighed by the possibility of 10/1 or 20/1 payout to the upside experienced by tech stocks.

Ronnie has given Cointelegraph some of the most accurate price predictions on Bitcoin this year. In an exclusive interview, he spoke about his journey through Wall Street, his charitable endeavors, and his new-found love for cryptocurrencies.

Having spent the last 20 years providing the very best stock analysis to various clientele, Moas has rubbed shoulders with some of the wealthiest people in the world. Perhaps that is why he has taken it upon himself to give back to the poorest of the poor, having seen wealth and greed in the ugliest light.

For the past decade, Moas has been closely involved with Food for the Poor, one of the largest, five-star rated charity organizations in the US. Moas has devoted a lot of his personal time, energy, and resources to the charity.

Elizabeth McCauley, the Bitcoin Evangelist

During her time serving members of Congress, Elizabeth McCauley contributed to the adoption of Bitcoin in the United States. Such was her enthusiasm that she has come to be known as the “Bitcoin Evangelist”. She utilized her considerable expertise in grassroots activism to bolster the adoption of Bitcoin within the United States.

Elizabeth is currently a member of the Board of Directors at the Bitcoin Foundation. She is an adviser at both the BitGive Foundation and the Coin Congress; although she doesn’t get nearly enough credit as she deserves.

Additionally, Elizabeth has had a considerable role in furthering the adoption of cryptocurrencies despite having the odds stacked against her. She has pioneered advancement in a male-dominated field, coupled with the difficulty of having to explain the intricacies of digital assets and blockchain technology to the US Congress, which struggled to grasp the concept of Facebook; as we saw firsthand during Facebook’s meeting with the Congress a couple of months ago.