Balaji Srinivasan

Before getting into crypto, Srinivasan, a sometime Stanford professor, cofounded Counsyl, a genomics startup, with his brother. He later launched 21.co, a well-financed Bitcoin mining startup that eventually morphed into Earn.com, a crypto-social network based on paid messages. Coinbase bought Earn.com for a rumored $100 million in April—a deal that many industry watchers described as an "acquihire." Now Srinivasan, a top crypto prognosticator, has taken a seat next to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (see No. 1) as the company's chief technology officer.