Who Really Moves Crypto in 2025: The People Behind Prices, Policy and Protocols

Why this year’s influential list matters for markets

CoinDesk’s Most Influential list is more than a roster of famous names. In 2025 it acted as a lens for where power sits in crypto — and why that matters for anyone with exposure to tokens, exchange stocks or crypto-focused funds.

Put simply: a handful of people still shape where capital flows and how regulators, platforms and developers behave. Their tweets, boardroom decisions and private funding rounds triggered price swings, liquidity shifts and policy fights this year. For investors, the list is a map of concentrated influence — and a reminder that market moves often start with a handful of actors, not anonymous on-chain forces.

Our yardstick: how influence was measured

Not all influence looks the same. For this list we used five simple, investor-focused tests to judge why a person matters for markets:

On-chain impact: Do their actions lead to significant token movement, smart‑contract upgrades or governance votes that change supply, staking or unlocks?
Capital control: Do they run funds, exchanges or public companies that direct large sums to specific protocols or assets?
Regulatory leverage: Can they shape rules, enforcement or public policy in major markets like the U.S., EU or Asia?
Media reach and narrative power: Do their public comments reset investor expectations and trading flows?
Governance and protocol action: Have they driven upgrades, hard forks, or major technical roadmaps that matter to valuation?

Data came from public filings, exchange and on‑chain activity, announced funding rounds, governance vote records and widely circulated public statements. Editorial judgment filled gaps where influence was diffuse — for example, when a founder quietly holds a veto over protocol treasury spending. The result is not a popularity contest. It’s a trader’s view of who can realistically move prices, listings, or rules in 2025.

Profiles: a dozen people whose moves reshaped markets this year

Below are concise investor-focused profiles of the dozen names that mattered most in 2025. Each entry highlights the exact levers they pulled.

Vitalik Buterin — architect of Ethereum

As Ethereum’s chief idea generator, Buterin’s public endorsements and critiques shifted attention between base-layer ETH and layer‑2 rollups. His vocal support for certain research priorities helped accelerate rollup adoption, which in turn redirected capital into layer‑2 tokens and developer tooling.

Brian Armstrong — Coinbase (COIN)

As CEO of the largest U.S. exchange, Armstrong’s decisions on listings, delistings and product launches affected token liquidity and institutional access. Coinbase’s custody and prime services remain a pipeline for ETF managers and hedge funds, so his platform-level moves sent immediate price signals for assets that gained or lost exchange support.

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao — Binance

CZ’s choices at Binance — which still controls huge retail and OTC flow globally — moved dozens of altcoins. Announcements about staking programs, token burn schedules or competitive fee changes often caused sharp, immediate reactions in the tokens hosted most heavily on Binance.

Gary Gensler — U.S. SEC chair

Regulation shaped everything in 2025. Gensler’s enforcement posture and rule guidance continued to dictate which firms could operate in the U.S., how exchanges listed tokens, and how token issuers structured their products. Announcements from the SEC regularly sent shock waves through exchange stocks and the spot‑crypto market.

Michael Saylor — MicroStrategy (MSTR)

Saylor remained the high‑profile corporate holder of Bitcoin. MicroStrategy’s board actions on treasury allocation and debt for BTC purchases reverberated into both MSTR stock moves and broader BTC demand dynamics, especially when the firm adjusted leverage or sold a stake.

Tim Draper — veteran VC and persistent Bitcoin bull

Draper’s public predictions and funding choices still matter for retail sentiment. When he backed custody projects or sovereign‑grade wallet infrastructure, it drew capital into trust solutions and drove narrative momentum for long-term BTC adoption stories.

Chris Dixon — a16z crypto lead

As the head of the largest crypto‑centric venture arm, Dixon’s fundings accelerated new primitive adoption — from privacy layers to tokenized real‑world assets. His portfolio moves are a pipeline signal for future token listings and developer interest.

Cathie Wood — ARK Invest (via ARK Innovation ETF, ARKK)

Wood’s public allocations to crypto infrastructure and exchange stocks provided a visible institutional demand bucket. ARK’s trades and research notes nudged other retail and institutional funds to mirror bets in blockchain names and ETFs that hold them.

Brad Garlinghouse — Ripple

Garlinghouse’s push on cross‑border payments and his litigation strategy with regulators influenced XRP liquidity and institutional payment experiments. His public wins or setbacks often created ripples in both token volumes and banking use‑case narratives.

Elizabeth Stark — Lightning Labs

As a leading voice for Bitcoin layer‑2 payments, Stark helped drive merchant and developer adoption of Lightning network tools. That adoption changed liquidity patterns for small BTC transactions and made certain custody and routing startups attractive to buyers.

Hayden Adams — Uniswap

As the main steward behind Uniswap’s protocol progress, Adams’ timing of upgrades and governance pushes changed DeFi liquidity distribution. Uniswap versions and fee‑model changes had direct effects on trading volumes for ERC‑20 tokens and on concentrated liquidity strategies.

Jed McCaleb — early protocol founder and large token holder

McCaleb’s remaining token unlocks and sales strategies continued to matter for tokens he helped create. Any change in his sale cadence or wallet movements produces immediate price pressure for legacy token pairs tied to his holdings.

How these actions translated into market moves

Influencers affect markets in four repeatable ways.

Listing and delisting decisions. When exchanges moved quickly to list a token or removed it, liquidity and price moved fast. That was the clearest, shortest-term transmit channel.
Narrative shifts from public statements. A regulator’s warning, a billionaire endorsement, or a founder’s roadmap change turned sentiment and trading flows, often before fundamentals adjusted.
Funding and treasury deployment. Venture and corporate allocations — whether to new protocols or to custody infrastructure — channeled capital into specific sectors and raised private valuations that later spilled into public markets.
Protocol upgrades and governance votes. Technical changes that altered token economics or on‑chain costs (gas, staking rewards, fee models) changed yield calculations and therefore asset demand.

Practical examples from 2025: MicroStrategy’s treasury shifts nudged both MSTR and BTC demand; Coinbase product rollouts created new institutional routes into certain altcoins, lifting their bid; SEC statements around token classification knocked down prices for tokens trading on U.S. venues. On‑chain governance votes on large protocol treasuries produced real reallocations of liquidity into competing DeFi stacks.

Notable tweets, fundings and policy moments that changed the tape

Below is a short timeline of market‑moving public actions tied back to these figures. Each item is emblematic rather than exhaustive.

Spring: A high‑profile endorsement for a rollup by a leading protocol founder triggered a multi‑week rotation into layer‑2 tokens and infrastructure firms building on them.
Mid‑year: Coinbase announced a custody product expansion aimed at large asset managers; several illiquid altcoins listed on its prime desk saw immediate spikes in volume.
Summer: The SEC issued new public guidance letters that tightened the classification of certain token sales; token prices and trading volumes in affected categories dropped sharply in the following days.
Autumn: A major venture firm led by a well‑known partner closed a large crypto fund focused on tokenized real-world assets, creating a funding wave for marketplace infrastructure and oracle providers.
Year‑end: A governance vote on a leading DEX changed fee math and treasury flows, causing liquidity to shift to competitors and reshaping yield strategies across DeFi.

Signals for investors heading into 2026

Reading the list through a trader’s lens yields a short watchlist of signals that matter next year:

Regulatory flashpoints: Any new formal rules or big enforcement cases from the SEC or major non‑U.S. regulators remain the single biggest market risk.
Major governance votes: Large protocol treasury allocations or fee‑model changes can reroute liquidity. Track planned votes and the size of the treasuries involved.
Exchange product launches: New custody, lending or ETF wrappers from major exchanges or public firms can open fresh demand channels for specific tokens.
Large token unlocks and insider sale cadence: Watch wallets tied to founders or early backers — their selling patterns still compress prices when they align.
Institutional fund flows: Visible allocations by big funds or ETF managers are a continuing source of sustained demand or supply for both crypto and listed names like COIN and MSTR.

These signals are not trading instructions. They are the concrete levers that the people on CoinDesk’s list used in 2025. For investors, the practical takeaway is simple: watch the people who control liquidity, treasury moves, and regulatory narratives. Those three controls decide which trades work and which don’t.

Photo: DS stories / Pexels

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