2025's Most Influential Figures in the Crypto Industry: The Rise of Prediction Markets, Privacy, and Women Leadership

The cryptocurrency industry experienced unprecedented shifts in 2025, with emerging sectors such as prediction markets, privacy protection, and stablecoin infrastructure becoming focal points. The emergence of key figures like Luana Lopez Lara is redefining the power dynamics and development directions of the industry. Although CoinDesk’s “Most Influential 2025” list includes only 50 names, this special nomination list records stories of those who have gained strong momentum in recent months and nearly made it onto the main list. These individuals come from all corners of the industry—from the emerging prediction market sector, to the revitalizing privacy technologies, to new explorations by traditional institutions.

The Return of Privacy: From Zcash to Canton’s Technological Awakening

Privacy issues have long been a contentious topic in the crypto industry, with privacy coins, mixers, and other tools offering participants transaction anonymity. In 2025, this dormant sector showed clear signs of revival—not only driven by community advocates but even by federal regulators like SEC Chairman Gary Gensler discussing the core value of privacy in crypto transactions.

Zcash (ZEC) became a symbol of this resurgence. The project’s wallet, Zashi, defaults to privacy transaction features, and major investment institutions are actively investing in this ecosystem. As of February 2026, ZEC’s trading price was $302.73, down 10.42% in the past 24 hours. Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox elaborated on the essence of privacy in an interview on the CoinDesk podcast:

“In the United States where I was born, and around the world, people used to be able to communicate with each other. It was just between you and them. You didn’t have to worry about others listening or tracking you. The same logic applies to financial transactions: you go into a store, buy something, pay—it’s just between you and the store. No one has the right to see or control what you buy or when you buy it. Zcash enables this mechanism through cryptography, but it’s essentially the same mechanism humans have been using for about 20 years—you say what you want, how much you spend, entirely at your discretion, with no one else allowed to interfere.”

Meanwhile, the Canton network also achieved significant breakthroughs. This privacy-focused blockchain network was selected by the world’s largest securities depository and clearing organization, DTCC, as a partner for tokenization. Digital Asset is currently developing a minimum viable product with DTCC, planning to issue some U.S. Treasury securities on the Canton platform, with the underlying assets held by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation. Canton’s innovation lies in allowing trading participants to see only their own transaction data, while being specifically designed for institutional and regulatory trading.

Луана Лопес Лара and Kalshi: New Power Players in Prediction Markets

If 2024 was the year of proof-of-concept for prediction markets, then 2025 marked their commercial explosion. Polymarket, a crypto-native prediction market platform, attracted a large user base during the 2024 US elections and officially returned to the US market in 2025. But the real driver of this sector was another platform—Kalshi.

Kalshi made a breakthrough through a key lawsuit against the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This victory allowed Kalshi to launch political prediction markets in the US, opening the door for other platforms. Now, Kalshi has become a core player in prediction market infrastructure, supporting platforms like Coinbase and Phantom Wallet, and even being selected by news giant CNN for its reporting.

One of the key drivers behind this is Kalshi’s co-founder, Луана Лопес Лара. In early December 2025, Kalshi successfully raised $1 billion, with a valuation of $11 billion. This funding pushed Луана Лопес Лара and co-founder Tarek Mansour’s personal net worth over $1 billion, making Луана Лопес Лара the youngest self-made female billionaire.

Despite some regulatory setbacks—such as Connecticut ordering Kalshi to cease sports betting operations with Robinhood—these did not hinder the platform’s expansion. Led by Луана Лопес Лара, Kalshi has partnered with Coinbase to launch stock trading prediction markets, integrated into Phantom Wallet’s 20 million users, and established content collaborations with CNN. The rapid growth of prediction markets is reshaping the landscape of financial democratization, and Луана Лопес Лара’s leadership has extended her influence beyond the crypto circle.

Redefining Female Leadership: Yi He Leads Binance into a New Era

The world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, underwent profound changes in its power structure in 2025. Yi He, one of Binance’s co-founders, has long been influential behind the scenes—managing Binance Labs venture fund, driving BNB Chain ecosystem development, and leading mergers and acquisitions—though her official title was always Head of Marketing.

In early December 2025, Yi He was officially appointed Co-CEO of Binance, sharing leadership with Zhao Changpeng’s successor, Richard Teng. In a CoinDesk podcast, Yi He stated: “I take seriously how to strengthen the organization and build a continuously growing company. I want to focus on that, while… I’m an OG founder, and I believe this includes transformation, which can make the community feel more confident. I will spend more time listening to user feedback, improving our products, and creating a better platform.”

Richard Teng highly praised Yi He’s role: “I think Yi has seriously underestimated her role. Anyone familiar with the crypto industry and Binance knows that Yi has been involved from day one, shaping what Binance is today. She plays a very, very important role in our development.” Yi He’s formal promotion marks the industry’s shift of female leadership from behind the scenes to the forefront, and Binance’s power restructuring signals a trend toward institutionalized, transparent management. As of February 2026, Binance Coin (BNB) traded at $781.20, down 8.85% in 24 hours.

Joe Lubin’s New Role and the Ethereum Productivity Revolution

Consensys founder Joe Lubin has long been a prominent figure in crypto, but in 2025 he chose a new identity—Chairman of the Board at SharpLink. SharpLink is an Ethereum-focused financial company holding nearly 900,000 ETH, worth over $3.5 billion.

Unlike most companies holding digital assets passively, SharpLink announced an aggressive plan: deploying these assets into production applications. The company plans to invest $200 million worth of Ethereum assets into ConsenSys’s Layer 2 solution, Linea, over the coming years to generate yields. SharpLink claims this will make its reserves “more productive.” This new approach not only opens a new direction for digital asset reserve management but also boosts capital adequacy for DeFi applications within the Ethereum ecosystem, demonstrating a deep integration of traditional financial thinking with blockchain technology.

Zak Abrams and Bridge: New Players in Stablecoin Infrastructure

The growth of stablecoins has become a major theme in crypto in 2025. From federal legislation pushing for a dedicated regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers to explosive market growth of the tokens themselves, this niche has never been hotter. Traditional financial firms like PayPal are also entering the space.

In February 2025, payments company Stripe acquired stablecoin infrastructure startup Bridge for $1.1 billion, reversing skepticism about Stripe’s crypto investments. This acquisition triggered a series of domino effects: Bridge partnered with Tempo blockchain and launched a testnet, applied for a banking trust license with regulators, and developed new stablecoin tools with companies like Klarna, providing stablecoin issuance capabilities for wallets like MetaMask, Phantom, and other platforms.

Bridge founder Zak Abrams stated that the company’s tools—such as Open Issuance—are designed specifically for platforms to quickly create custom stablecoins. This means the barriers to issuing stablecoins are being fundamentally transformed—from proprietary tools to democratized infrastructure. Zak Abrams is shaping a future where anyone can issue stablecoins, and the profound impact of this shift is just beginning to be felt.

Summary: How 2025 Is Reshaping the Crypto Power Map

These nominees of 2025 represent new trends in crypto: the resurgence of privacy tech, the financial democratization of prediction markets, the rise of female leadership, the integration of traditional finance and blockchain, and the democratization of infrastructure. Луана Лопес Лара’s journey from startup founder to billionaire symbolizes success in new sectors; Yi He’s move from behind-the-scenes to front stage reflects the maturing of institutional involvement; and the initiatives of Zak Abrams, Joe Lubin, and others continue to expand the application boundaries of blockchain technology.

These changes indicate that crypto is no longer just a technological revolution but also a redistribution of power, wealth, and governance. The rise of female leaders like Луана Лопес Лара and Yi He signals a future of greater diversity and inclusion in the industry.