The 20 Most Influential Crypto Bloggers of 2020

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While there are dozens, if not hundreds of great article writers centered on cryptocurrencies, naturally some are better than others. They all try their best, of course, but some of them have more knowledge, or a better way of spreading it, that simply makes their predictions more accurate and their explanations easier to understand.

To help you find some of those crypto writers you’ll want to follow, we have gathered a small list with twenty of them, along with why they’re so good and where to find them.

1. Andreas M. Antonopoulos

One of the biggest independent names in the cryptocurrency sphere, Antonopoulos has made it his duty to educate the world about the possibilities and uses of blockchain. His extensive work reaches all mediums, including not only articles but also whole books and even series of YouTube videos and appearances.

Andreas’s first huge success in the crypto space was his 2014 book “Mastering Bitcoin,” where his attempts to reach the masses were both heard and well received. Ever since, he’s become a full-time cryptocurrency advocate, with his term “The Internet of Money” becoming an oft-used one when describing Bitcoin.

One of the reasons many people look to him rather than others is his background: While many of the most followed, well-informed cryptocurrency are directly involved in the development of one or more blockchains, Andreas isn’t. 

While these days he’s often part of committees on blockchain studies, he doesn’t have a direct stake, nor is he working on a blockchain project. Instead, Andreas is simply a cryptocurrency enthusiast, and this particularly standing means his writing is aimed to the layman rather than the programmer.

You can follow Andreas on Twitter, watch informative videos on his YouTube channel, or read his articles in Medium. You can also purchase his books on Amazon, or even tune up to his Let’s Talk Bitcoin series of podcasts.

2. Linda Xie

With a B.A. in Economics from UC San Diego, Xie rose to prominence as the product manager of Coinbase, a position that by itself draws a lot of attention. Her love and interest for cryptocurrencies then led her towards crypto investment, an endeavor that eventually led to creating Scalar Capital, a $20 million fund for blockchain projects where developers are funded in exchange for tokens.

Linda’s involvement with the community goes beyond funding and investment, often making statements about why blockchain is the future and which projects she considers more relevant. Her involvement with cryptocurrencies, along with her work helping bring blockchain to the masses, earned her a spot on the Forbes 30 under 30 for finances in 2019.

Linda’s articles can be found mostly in Medium, although she also posts on her personal website and is quite active on Twitter. She has also participated in several conferences and podcasts, with media from her appearances often posted publicly and further disseminated by a list she keeps updated on her website.

3. David Gilbertson

For those looking for a more technical look at blockchain, Gilbertson’s articles aren’t precisely written for the layman as they tend to edge on development and why it works. This makes him an excellent source to learn deeper details about blockchain and cryptocurrencies, all the while gathering valuable knowledge on other IT-related areas, as he writes about many aspects of development, particularly on the web side of things.

Gilbertson isn’t the most prominent figure in the community, as his involvement with blockchain and cryptocurrencies is limited, and, unlike our previous two writers, he isn’t dedicated to the cryptocurrency sphere nor does he spend all of his time writing about it. Instead, his main attractive is his vast knowledge of the web environment, starting with his long track record as a website developer and software engineer.

In the end, while Gilbertson’s articles might not be for everyone, he’s one of the most gifted sources of development knowledge on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and websites, particularly if you’re interested in the security aspect of things.

David’s articles can be read on Medium and Hackernoon, with smaller tidbits often shared to his twitter account.

4. Vitalik Buterin

While many would expect Buterin to not need naming, newcomers to cryptocurrencies might fail to grasp who he is – or why there is so much reverence towards him from the community.

Buterin is one of the biggest proponents and contributors in the blockchain sphere although, if we were to list his achievements and relevant activities, we should start by simply pointing out he’s the co-founder of Ethereum and Bitcoin Magazine. That alone gives his voice extreme weight, as it was Ethereum that kickstarted the second wave of cryptocurrencies and popularized smart contracts. On top of that, Ethereum is still one of the most popular blockchains and is constantly updated to keep it in line with what newer blockchain projects offer.

On the academic side of things, Buterin isn’t the most lauded member of the community – his studies consisting mostly of a B.A. in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. However, as common in the IT field, his achievements speak more for him than any degrees might – and his success landed him on the Forbes’s 30 under 30 list for finances in 2018.

Knowing this, it’s no wonder that Buterin is also a prolific Blockchain writer, often going into details on how Ethereum and its many updates work while also tackling proposals and implementations from other blockchain projects. The many sites he’s written for include Medium, Bitcoin Magazine, the Ethereum Blog, and naturally his own website.

Like many people in the community, Vitalik is very active on Twitter, often using the platform to disseminate both his own articles and takes and those of other influential figures.

5. Brian Armstrong

Many of the most influential figures in the blockchain community are directly related to blockchain development. This isn’t surprising, considering the blockchain and crypto spheres are largely made up of people from IT circles, where those interested in the products are often the same people developing them.

One curious point of the crypto community, however, is that not only are developers and crypto designers influential. There are also many figures whose thoughts and opinion carry weight whose jobs aren’t developing cryptocurrencies, but orbiting around them – with one of the largest figures here being Brian Armstrong.

The fact that Armstrong isn’t the mind behind a cryptocurrency or blockchain project might set some people off at first – that is, until his credentials as the CEO and co-founder of Coinbase make it clear he is a central figure in the community.

Armstrong holds several degrees in economy, and has amassed a fortune with his work in the cryptocurrency community, turning him into a billionaire in late 2018.

As many in the community, Armstrong is very active on Medium, mostly posting for the Coinbase blog. He’s also been featured on Fortune, and his takes on the crypto sphere and what to expect in the future are important for the community, often landing him in crypto news sites.

 As common among the cryptocurrency community, he’s also very active on Twitter, often using it to comment on the current state of the crypto market and the economy as a whole.

6. Maria Bustillos

Where some writers champion the cause of cryptocurrencies or investing, Bustillos takes a different direction by championing not just the blockchain – but also the ways in which it can change our economy and, in this case, her own branck.

Bustillos rose to prominence within the Blockchain world early on, as she started writing about cryptocurrencies back in 2013 and, soon enough, investing in them while trying to bring them to the masses. Her biggest contribution to the crypto world besides her writings is her publishing ventures: Bustillo works as an editor for popula.com, a web-based publication that often posts its content to civil.co, one of the leading blockchain-based journalism systems.

A long-time believer of the changes blockchain can bring to writers and how journalism is handled and distributed, she’s credited for having uploaded the very first journalism article straight to the Ethereum blockchain, while often championing the way blockchain-based networks such as the already mentioned Civil or Steem.

Her work can be read mainly in her Medium channel, although she has also contributed in several occasions with articles for The New Yorker.

7. Joon Ian Wong

Joon Ian Wong was the manager for European and Asian affairs of Coindesk, granting him a very visible and influential position in the cryptosphere. His journalism credits extend far beyond it, however, as he has also held influential positions at Quartz, where he held the position of European Technology Correspondent, before returning to Coindesk as the head of Programming Consensus. Other journalism credits include stints in many parts of the world, including Shanghai, New York City, and Kuala Lumpur.

As one of the heads of Coindesk, Wong’s takes and reports are guaranteed to be accurate and well-informed, this being naturally the main reason his readers follow him closely. Since the bulk of his work these days centers around digital currencies, crypto fans and investors are assured to receive a distilled, clean string of reports.

Woo’s fields of expertise are naturally broad, allowing him to report on general market movements at the same time as he can go on talks over other, more frivolous aspects of the cryptosphere. Nonetheless, he’s one of the main writers you should follow and listen to if you’re interested in knowing what’s going on in the cryptocurrency world – both the important, breaking news, and the smaller, niche ones that may well obtain relevance in the future.

Most of his work can be found at Quartz and Coindesk. As most people in the crypto world, he also has a heavily curated Twitter presence.

8. Adolph Obasogie

The onset of the crypto world came with sparse information on what it was all about. There was a huge demand for writers who knew about financial terms and tech in those early days.  Adolph Obasogie came onto the scene in this vein.

He’s not a blockchain developer or a massive investor. Adolph Obasogie is a Chartered Accountant and one of the earliest prolific cryptocurrency writers. He has authored several pages on Medium and is the brain behind the whitepapers of some of the most successful blockchain projects so far.

He is a knowledgeable tech enthusiast working as a contributing writer to several blockchain-related web publications. On top of that, Adolph regularly writes about financial and investment tips, gaining him a following among people who are new to cryptocurrencies, and others who are keen on investing. He has rolled out more than 1,000 articles each year since 2013.

Adolph might not be a very lauded writer – in a list where many of our entries have received awards, published best-sellers, or worked for companies like Forbes, Adolph is certainly an odd choice. However, it’s this everyday-guy image what helped propel him here:.

While many technology enthusiasts look for the best, most-lauded from the world, newcomers and less demanding readers often just want someone to relate to – and in Adolph who is extremely prolific as a writer, they find just that.

Adolph writes for Finance Minutes, USBlasting News, and BeinCrypto among others. 

His Amazon Central writer’s page is brimming with updates. He is also presently the Lead Partner at Harrison Global Capital

9. Alyssa Hertig

Hertig is a bit of an odd fish among the writing community, for a very peculiar reason: She’s very knowledgeable on cryptocurrencies, has an extensive body of work published about blockchain, is a full member of CoinDesk’s editorial team, and… has no cryptocurrency holdings of her own.

That last point is what makes her an outlier and, for many people, it’s enough to turn them off from following. However, whatever her reasons not to invest in cryptocurrencies, they don’t at all deny or diminish her expertise: Many of her articles go deep into details about how blockchain works, often with a focus on explaining blockchain-related events and terminology in layman terms. Her article on time warp attacks on the Bitcoin blockchain is often referred to as an excellent and insightful piece of blockchain journalism.

As part of Coindesk’s editorial team, naturally most of her articles can be found on that very website. However, she has also written for high-profile sites such as Nasdaq, and occasionally published on Vice.

She also has a twitter account, although it is much less crypto-centered than those of others in the community.

10. Jon Matonis

An economist with a long, varied career, Matonis is one of the most experienced and successful figures in the blockchain world today. Although his current titles of e-money researcher and cryptoeconomist might make it sound like he’s a newcomer, he has in the past worked with large companies like Visa (as head of FX trading), Verisign (as part of their Startup Team), and Hushmail (as CEO). He’s currently the Chief Economist at Cypherpunk Holdings.

On the cryptocurrency front, Matonis has served as part of the Board of Directors of the Bitcoin Foundation, all the while being an invaluable source of information about the crypto sphere, how it is expected to develop, and how it relates to our mainstream economy.

His publications are plenty and varied, with high-profile sites such as Coindesk, American Banker, and Forbes listing him among their contributors. His Medium channel also has plenty of publications, while his Twitter account, although far less active than that of the average crypto journalist, can be a good source of information on both general and crypto economy.

11. Josiah Wilmoth

One of the most prolific crypto writers, Wilmoth started his career in an unlikely way: As a high-school teacher. It was only in 2014 that he switched jobs, a move that started with him joining CCN (short for Crypto Coins News) and eventually led to a full-time position as assistant editor at the same website.

In the almost six years since joining CCN, Wilmoth has authored more than 2,000 articles, their subjects ranging from the most basic to the deepest, most complex aspects of the crypto market. This has made him the go-to writer for all kinds of readers, since he’s known for being able to deliver interesting, insightful articles independently of your level of expertise.

Wilmoth’s mark on the crypto community is huge – his articles have been featured in important publications such as Business Insider, Yahoo Finances, and NPR.

As one would expect, he is most active at CCN, where a few articles of his are posted every week. He has also published stories for Inside Bitcoins, and Yahoo Finances often features either original articles by him or reposts from his work at CCN.

12. Don Tapscott

Tapscott is the man to follow if you’re not only interested in cryptocurrencies, but in economy in general. A renowned business executive and speaker who made his name long before bitcoin or blockchain were even ideas in Satoshi’s mind, Tapscott has decades of experience and successes to show. His prior endeavors include work as an adjunct professor at INSEAD and being the chancellor of Trent University in Ontario.

His focus towards the economy has always been technology and how it can change – thus, it’s not a surprise that he developed an interest in blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies. During the last decade that has been his focus, having authored dozens of articles and books on the matter, with his 2016 book Blockchain Revolution being often referenced in bibliography about the subject.

Currently, Tapscott is the CEO of the Tapscott Group and a co-founder and Executive Chairman of the Blockchain Research Institute. He sometimes contributes to Coindesk and regularly posts about economy and blockchain on his own website.

13. Laura Shin

If there’s anyone who can attract more attention towards cryptocurrencies than the many enthusiastic personalities that regularly talk about it in conferences, that sure would be somebody who is just as enthusiastic and knowledgeable of the blockchain, all the while being a Senior Editor at Forbes with previous experience writing for Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.

Enter Laura Shin, who fits this profile perfectly, and whose articles and massive platform can be credited with having allowed many people to learn what blockchain and cryptocurrencies are, straight from the mouth (or fingers) of a figure they can trust from a long-standing, influential economy publication. Shin is, in fact, often credited as the very first prominent full-time crypto journalist.

Although Shin is no longer working at Forbes, she continues working as a crypto journalist, most famously from her Unchained podcast, where she speculates about the market and regularly interviews influential figures to the community. During 2019, the podcast’s prominence rose to the point that she held a live conference, allowing the community to hold conversations with its main figures in real-time.

Shin’s articles can still be read at Forbes. Her podcasts over at Unchained are also posted along with a transcript, so that those who don’t have the time to listen to long conversations can still peruse them. She’s due to publish a book on the history of Blockchain, possibly in late 2020.

14. Andy Greenberg

Greenberg is another of those writers who, although not entirely dedicated to crypto journalism, can still be credited for helping many readers learn about and jump into the cryptocurrency market. In this case, Greenberg has done this work from Wired, where he currently works as a Senior Editor.

From Wired, Greenberg has used his expertise in technology and security to inform Wired’s readers about blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and why they’re part of our future. Greenberg’s previous stints as a writer, which include working as a reporter in Forbes, had already solidified his credibility, thus leading him to become an instrumental part of the process of mainstream crypto adoption.

Besides his work at Forbes and Wired, Greenberg’s career has been lauded in several occasion – most importantly in 2019 when he received the Geral Loeb Award for International Reporting thanks to his article “The Code that Crashed the World: The Untold Story of NotPetya, the Most Devastating Cyberattack in History.”

You can find Greenberg’s articles at Wired and Forbes. He’s also active on Twitter and has authored several widely published books on IT and security topics.

15. James Moreau

James Moreau is a prolific crypto journalist, software content marketer, and social media guru whose work over the last decade has been heavily based in blockchain. While not a huge figure in the technical side of things, he has worked regularly with high-profile figures and companies involved in cryptocurrency, often helping them come up with strategies to both launch and publicize their products and ideas.

His involvement with the community also goes a bit further than just coming up with strategies: Moreau’s work as a journalist, although not as lauded as that of some of his peers, is extensive and ranges from explanations of the inner working of blockchain systems to profiles on relevant people and companies in the area, covering both news and the state of the market often on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and blockchain in general.

Moreaus’s recent work includes stints at Witnet and Consensys, companies he both writes and offers support for. His articles can be found at Medium and CCN. He’s also active on Twitter.

16. Mihai Alisie

One of the original founders of Bitcoin Magazine (along with Vitalik Buterin, who was already mentioned on this list,) Alisie is one of blockchain’s largest influencers, not only as a writer but as a businessman himself.

Alisie served as the Editor-in-chief of said publication for two years, until 2013, when he… went on to co-found the Ethereum project, which resulted in one of the largest blockchains in our world today. He’s often credited with helping set up the Ethereum foundation, particularly from the structural and legal standpoints. He then worked on the foundation as its Strategic Manager and Vice-president, until 2015 when he once more went on to found the Akasha platform.

Alisie isn’t a particularly prolific writer, but, as happens with his friend Buterin, his words are extremely influential thanks to his standing in the community and proven successes. Some of is articles are available at the Bitcoin Magazine website, although many of them were subscriber-only and haven’t been made public. He’s also written articles and insights and posted them on his Akasha profile.

Like most in the community, Alisie has a Twitter account, although he’s not as active there as other prominent members.

17. Tiana Laurence

While many people look down at the For Dummies series of book, considering them silly and extremely basic (which they tend to be,) they are also among the best, most commonly sought books when people want an introduction to a subject.

Tiana Laurence understood this, which led her to author Blockchain For Dummies, released in 2017. That book alone was enough to put her in many people’s radars, although that’s far from her only blockchain-related endeavor. She is currently the CMO of Factom, a blockchain-as-a-service company from Texas that has, among other things, a partnership with the US Department of Homeland Security to work on blockchain projects. Among the company’s earlier accolades there’s also obtaining a grant from the Gates Foundation.

Laurence’s main focus as a speaker for blockchain is its potential to reshape the world as we see it – making tasks that can be confusing or require lots of paperwork simple, while bringing transparency to areas that have been historically difficult to keep track of.

Besides her book on blockchain, Laurence is a semi-regular contributor to Techtarget. She has also contributed to Coincentral and Computerworld, and regularly posts in her own blog. For updates on her writing and work, you can follow her on Twitter.

18. Evander Smart

Once a Wall Street banker, Evander Smart is exactly the kind of person whose thoughts and insights you would listen to right away, as he’s guaranteed to have more knowledge and experience with the economy than most people in the world. Losing his belief in how our economy works led him to a career shift of sorts, and nowadays he uses his expertise to invest on and try to build a worldwide blockchain economy.

Smart’s body of work is heavily based on spreading the word about the many possibilities of blockchain, usually explaining why cryptocurrencies are money, proposing the use of blockchain to solve many of the economic problems in the developing world, and even going into sociological aspects of it to argue how cryptocurrencies can help solve inequality.

Besides writing about cryptocurrencies, Smart also writes about the economy itself, giving his readers a window to the whole worldwide economy. His articles can be found in many sites, including Bitcoinist, Bitcoin.com, CCN, and Cointelegraph.

19. Trent Lapinski

Trent Lapinski is at the same time an entrepreneur, writer, and enthusiast not only of cryptocurrencies but of everything coming from the tech world. His profile is quite varied, as he’s been active in startup and IT communities since his teens, solidifying his position as a knowledgeable and trustable source of information during the last decade.

Lapinski currently works as a consultant and adviser for startups, a job that has taken him all over the world, since his extensive expertise means he can handle not only one, but most of a startup’s areas at the same time. While working as a consultant he also worked on several startups of his own, further adding weight to his experience and desirability in the area.

In recent years he has dedicated most of his time to exploring opportunities in blockchain, a shift that can be seen in his articles that have become more and more blockchain-themed, although he still works on several high-level IT subjects such as AI, cloud computing, and distributed networks.

Most of Lapinski’s articles are published in Medium and Techpost. He’s also a common contributor to Hackernoon, and he’s currently the anchor of the Hackernoon podcast, where he interviews relevant figures in the technology world.

 

20. Richard Kastelein

One of Blockchain’s largest figures, Kastelein has been involved with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general for about as long as they have existed. His career also extends far beyond that, as he was already an accomplished writer before Bitcoin became a thing. His collaborations have been published by many high-profile publications such as Wired, Harvard Business Review, and The Guardian.

Most importantly for the blockchain area, Kastelein is the lead publisher for the-blockchain.com, a news site dedicated to blockchain that boasts regular articles and half a decade in existence. Besides that, he has participated as a speaker on keynotes and panels in several dozen blockchain conferences all over the world, and sits in the advisory board of about half a dozen blockchain startups.

His position as head of a large blockchain-related news site makes him a respected, often-quoted source that often appears listed among the main influencers in the community. Moreover, his extensive body of work, comprised of over 2500 articles written and published over the years, vouch for him as a regular, reliable source on blockchain news.

You can read Kastelen’s articles at the-blockchain. He is also regularly active on Twitter.