Forbes’ 2025 Finance 30 Under 30: 14 Crypto Founders Lead the Pack
Forbes 2025 30 Under 30 Finance has named 14 crypto innovators and that’s another milestone for the space. 14 out of 30 are from 9 blockchain and crypto companies which is a big deal.
The list was released on December 4 and it’s the annual list of the best leaders under 30 in North America who are changing industries through innovation.
The 2025 list is diverse with 10 men and 4 women. Among them is Shayne Coplan, founder of Polymarket, who shows us what decentralized platforms can do.
Coplan’s blockchain prediction market got attention during the US presidential election where users predicted Donald Trump’s win despite the polling uncertainties.
Key Innovators Redefining Decentralized Exchanges
DEXs were well represented in this year’s list. Kaledora Kiernan-Linna and Marco Antonio Ribeiro of Ostium Labs shared the spotlight with Sunny Aggarwal and Dev Ojha, co-founders of Osmosis. Both projects are working on blockchain interoperability and DeFi innovation.
Cindy Leow, co-founder of Drift Labs, was also recognized for her work on perpetual swap DEXs as the demand for decentralized financial solutions grows. Soroush Ghodsi Boushehri, Stefan Stokic and Jake Sylvestre of Cortex Labs were recognized for integrating AI into blockchain networks, a new standard for AI finance.
Other notable mentions are Tux Pacific of Entropy working on on-chain AI agents and Austin King and Tyler Tarsi of Omni Network for their work on multichain decentralized app protocols.
A Historical Perspective on Crypto’s Influence
14 crypto founders in 2025 is a good showing but not as high as the industry’s peak in 2021 when Forbes named 21 blockchain leaders. Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison were on that list and later got into legal troubles with Alameda Research and FTX. Crypto is a high stakes game.
2024 was also a big year with 9 crypto founders on the list. The fact that we have a consistent presence shows the industry is growing and innovating while figuring things out.
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