Ethereum’s Buterin and Coinbase CEO make ‘40 Under 40’ List

In a sure sign of the crypto world consolidating its position in the mainstream, two of its leading figures were today honored by Fortune Magazine’s “40 Under 40” feature for 2018. The list represents the magazine’s “annual ranking of the most influential young people in business.”
 
Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong comes in at number 20, falling ten places from his position last year. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is placed at number 22, just behind Rihanna, down ten places on 2017.
 
Fortune says that Armstrong plans on making Coinbase “the Google of crypto” and “as relevant to the next wave of the web as Google was to the last.” Recognising that 2017’s bull run had “catapulted Coinbase into the mainstream,” Fortune say that the trading platform is now diversifying by “investing in upstarts and making acquisitions—including one that secured it a path to several tantalizing financial licenses.”
 
Buterin is described by Fortune as a “skinny visionary” who Google tried to hire “to lead its own whispered crypto endeavors.” Neither Armstrong or Buterin have commented on the news.
 
Also on the list are several figures with links to the cryptocurrency world. Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt, the founders of trading app Robinhood, come in at number 24, while Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, is at number 25.
 
Still, there is still some way to go before cryptocurrency can claim to be as significant as social media or sharing apps, which dominate the list. The top spot is shared by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Kevin Systrom of Instagram.

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