Meet the 5 most powerful people in crypto right now and what they’re planning next

Key takeaways: 

• Power successful crypto has shifted from accepted players to 5 forces driving onchain concern and control.

• These forces are stablecoins, ETFs, base-layer upgrades, blockspace information and high-throughput execution.

• Traditional gatekeepers similar exchanges and regulators present play a lesser role.

Power successful crypto contiguous revolves astir 5 levers: dollar liquidity (stablecoins), superior markets (ETFs and tokenization), base-layer roadmaps, blockspace information markets and high-throughput execution.

Since 2024, the equilibrium of power has shifted distant from the aged “exchanges vs. regulators” dynamic to a caller halfway of gravity.

Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) present funnel mainstream superior astatine scale. For example, IBIT by BlackRock unsocial holds astir $85 cardinal successful assets nether absorption (AUM). 

Stablecoins, meanwhile, person go the fastest dollar colony obstruction and, aft the introduction of the GENIUS Act, present run nether a national model successful the US. 

On the tech side, Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade (with Ethereum Improvement Proposal 7702) is reshaping wallet UX, Solana’s Firedancer lawsuit is approaching rollout, and EigenLayer has transformed staked Ether (ETH) into a rentable information marketplace with unrecorded slashing. You tin expect disposable moves connected each of these fronts successful the months ahead.

How we defined “power” successful our apical five 

• Direct power implicit superior flows oregon artifact space

• Ability to acceptable and vessel roadmaps others indispensable follow

• Credible and announced adjacent steps landing successful the adjacent fewer quarters.

1. Larry Fink (BlackRock)

BlackRock present controls the largest spot Bitcoin ETF and the astir salient organization tokenized currency fund. IBIT leads the ETF battalion by assets, portion BUIDL turned tokenized Treasuries into a mainstream merchandise for qualified investors, and it’s nary longer tied to a azygous chain. 

BlackRock has besides signaled involvement successful broadening its crypto ETF lineup beyond BTC and ETH.

Power successful practice

• IBIT: Around $85.4 cardinal successful nett assets (Aug. 20, 2025) — the de facto TradFi on-ramp that sets flows and fees crossed the segment.

• BUIDL: >$1 cardinal AUM (March 2025). No longer Ether-only — BlackRock and Securitize person rolled retired caller stock classes, including connected Solana (SOL), to grow organisation and composability.

What Larry Fink is readying next

• More crypto ETFs: BlackRock is weighing further listings, taxable to request and regulatory approval.

• Deeper tokenization plumbing: Expect BUIDL and successors to integrate further with BlackRock’s Aladdin system (its portfolio and ops backbone) and propulsion multichain entree wherever counterparties request it.

2. Paolo Ardoino (Tether) 

Tether’s USDt (USDT) is the integer dollar that underpins astir of crypto, powering centralized crypto exchanges, onchain markets and cross-border payments. 

Tether’s standard gives Ardoino nonstop power implicit the terms and availability of dollar liquidity.

He has besides been redeploying profits into hard infrastructure (Bitcoin mining, vigor and privacy-focused AI), positioning Tether arsenic a captious relation successful the stack.

Power successful practice

• USDT marketplace cap: Around $167 cardinal (Aug. 21, 2025), the largest successful crypto and the benchmark for onchain dollar liquidity.

• Energy and mining build-out: New Bitcoin mining information centers are underway, including a Brazil biogas project.

• US strategy push: Tether hired Bo Hines, formerly tied to the White House’s crypto advisory group, to signifier its US posture.

What Paolo Ardoino is readying next

• Expanding its hard-asset footprint successful vigor and mining, positive gathering an AI/edge-compute stack for privacy-preserving services.

• Deepening payments and remittance flows, with a absorption connected emerging-market USD corridors wherever stablecoins already dominate.

When a azygous issuer controls astir of the crypto-dollar supply, its reserve choices, compliance stance and infrastructure spending tin determination the full market. 

That shifts spreads, colony times and which chains summation users. With caller US stablecoin rules, scrutiny volition emergence adjacent arsenic request for dollar stablecoins grows.

Did you know? In 2024, Tether was the seventh-largest nett purchaser of the US Treasurys, up of respective countries.

3. Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum) 

Ethereum’s May 2025 Pectra upgrade (now live) shipped EIP-7702, which lets regular externally owned accounts (EOAs) enactment similar smart-contract accounts. This account-abstraction measurement cascades into wallets, furniture 2s (L2s) and payments.

Pectra besides raised validator limits, altering staking economics and node operations. Buterin’s power (through writing, probe and core-dev work) continues to signifier what gets “enshrined” next.

Power successful practice

• Pectra live: EIP-7702 allows EOAs to temporarily execute codification (session keys, societal recovery, batched actions) portion staying compatible with ERC-4337, unlocking a smoother wallet UX.

• Validator/staking updates: The maximum effectual equilibrium per validator jumped from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, consolidating involvement and lowering statement overhead.

What Vitalik Buterin is readying next 

• History expiry (EIP-4444): Partial expiry rolled retired successful July 2025, shrinking disk requirements and paving the mode for lighter nodes. Further iterations are expected.

• Verkle trees and statelessness: Ongoing probe aims to displacement Ethereum to a Verkle-based state, enabling stateless clients and reducing hardware barriers.

• Enshrined PBS (ePBS): Active enactment continues connected embedding proposer-builder separation to harden censorship absorption and streamline maximal extractable worth (MEV) flows.

Ethereum inactive sets norms for L2s, wallets and onchain finance. Buterin’s roadmap volition straight power costs, show and the developer acquisition crossed the wider ecosystem.

Did you know? Buterin’s Balvi money has funneled multimillion-dollar gifts into aerial disinfection and pandemic prevention probe — $9.4 cardinal USDC (USDC) to the University of Maryland and astir $5.3 cardinal to UNSW’s EPIWATCH.

4. Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana) 

Solana’s premix of precocious throughput and debased fees has made it a hub for consumer-facing apps and accelerated USD settlement. Stablecoin enactment has surged connected the web successful 2025. 

Yakovenko’s biggest plaything is Firedancer (an autarkic validator lawsuit built by Jump to boost resilience and capacity). If successful, it would extremity Solana’s reliance connected a azygous ascendant lawsuit and fastener successful existent lawsuit diversity.

Power successful practice

• Firedancer progress: Testing accelerated successful 2025. Early “Frankendancer” hybrids shipped, portion the afloat lawsuit has replayed mainnet blocks and deed seven-figure transactions per 2nd (TPS) successful controlled tests — a large milestone toward production.

• Stablecoin scale: By H1 2025, Solana’s regular progressive stablecoin addresses consistently topped the multimillion mark, with interval rising rapidly.

What Anatoly Yakovenko is readying next 

• Phased Firedancer rollout: Watch validator diverseness metrics arsenic Jump moves from trial show to accumulation hardening done precocious 2025.

• Payments and decentralized carnal infrastructure web focus: Expect continued accent connected payments UX and real-world networks (e.g., Helium’s business-onboarding model), arsenic Solana competes straight with Ethereum L2s connected velocity and cost.

If Firedancer delivers, Solana’s execution economics and resilience volition displacement dramatically: reduced process hazard from lawsuit bugs, higher capableness for throughput-heavy apps and a sturdier basal for planetary USD flows. 

That operation gives Yakovenko important power implicit wherever the adjacent question of user payments settles.

Did you know? Yakovenko has said the proof-of-history thought arrived during a late-night java binge, starring to the 2018 achromatic paper.

5. Sreeram Kannan (EigenLayer) 

EigenLayer transformed Ethereum’s involvement into a marketplace for security. Actively validated services (AVSs) tin present “rent” Ethereum’s spot alternatively of gathering their ain validator sets. 

With slashing unrecorded and a caller multichain verification diagnostic that allows AVSs to tally connected L2s portion inactive anchoring to Ethereum’s security, Kannan efficaciously coordinates an emerging furniture that galore projects already beryllium on.

Power successful practice

• Slashing shipped (April 17, 2025): Misbehavior tin present beryllium penalized, completing EigenLayer’s archetypal design. At launch, billions successful restaked assets and dozens of AVSs were already participating.

• AVSs connected L2s: Multichain verification lets services execute connected L2s portion verifying against Ethereum, providing scalability without sacrificing trust.

What Sreeram Kannan is readying next

• Institutionalizing risk: Expect question toward standardized AVS hazard models, security and sum tools and operational frameworks that tin conscionable organization requirements. Analysts enactment these are indispensable for wider adoption.

• Broader verification footprint: Continued enlargement of L2-native verification and cross-domain services, positive developer tooling specified arsenic EigenCloud to marque “verifiability-as-a-service” much accessible.

If much of crypto’s infrastructure rents information done EigenLayer alternatively than launching its ain token and validator set, Kannan’s roadmap volition power who gets secured, however hazard is priced and wherever developers take to deploy. 

The ripple effects widen to L2 design, miner extractable worth (MEV) markets and organization participation.

Did you know? A16z bought astir $70 cardinal of EigenLayer (EIGEN) tokens to backmost the EigenCloud launch, a notable VC amusement of assurance successful “verifiability-as-a-service.”

Cross-currents: Why not regulators oregon speech CEOs?

Regulators and speech leaders inactive matter, but 2025’s decisive levers are elsewhere. Richard Teng (Binance) channels ample liquidity flows and listings; Jeremy Allaire (Circle) secured a afloat regulated Markets successful Crypto-Assets (MiCA) way for USDC successful the EU. 

Yet compared to Tether’s dominance of crypto-dollar supply, BlackRock’s ETF and tokenization pipelines, base-layer roadmaps (Ethereum and Solana) and EigenLayer’s caller information market, their scope looks narrower this cycle.

For a broader anchor, look to derivatives: Perpetual futures accounted for astir 68% of BTC trading measurement YTD 2025. This demonstrates that the existent tone-setters are those who power flows (ETFs, stablecoins, execution layers and present restaking).

What to ticker next

• Tokenization pace: BUIDL has much than $1 cardinal successful AUM, present with a Solana stock class, and is accepted arsenic collateral crossed aggregate venues, signaling wherever onchain currency volition really settle.

• Stablecoin infrastructure: With the US GENIUS Act live, Treasury rulemaking and bankruptcy-priority rules could reshape issuer banking entree and risk.

• Ethereum post-Pectra: EIP-7702 is live, and partial past expiry is rolling out. The adjacent flashpoint: enshrined PBS.

• Solana execution: Firedancer’s rollout and payments integrations volition amusement however overmuch headroom Solana gains connected throughput and resilience.

• Restaking maturation: After slashing and multichain verification, the adjacent milestones are standardized AVS hazard models and procurement frameworks for organization adoption.

This nonfiction does not incorporate concern proposal oregon recommendations. Every concern and trading determination involves risk, and readers should behaviour their ain probe erstwhile making a decision.