When he started Binance in July 2017, he wanted to build a platform that combined the high frequency of trading platforms – much like the ones he helped build for the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Bloomberg’s Tradebook when he was fresh out of college. After some initial setbacks, he then transformed Binance into a decentralised platform with a global workforce. Today, it is the largest crypto exchange with daily trading volume of US$76bn.
oday, the platform proclaims that it is on a mission to deliver a fairer and more transparent financial system. Users can choose to buy or sell more than 10,000 different digital assets, with Coinbase boasting more than US$300bn in quarterly volume traded.
Under his stewardship, it has become one of the largest and most important crypto platforms, with more than 4,000 employees and 50mn users. The platform is reported to have more than US$250mn in daily volumes.
While this serial crypto entrepreneur has a chequered past, he has no doubt left his mark on the industry. He founded the crypto exchange OKCoin in 2013, before becoming CEO of OKGroup. In 2017, he founded OKX, although he is reportedly not involved in the venture anymore
The enigmatic founder of crypto exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell, started the platform back in 2011. It became the first US crypto firm to receive a state-chartered banking licence and was one of the first exchanges to offer spot trading with margins, regulated derivatives and index services.
While Facebook has enjoyed its own success, Gemini has turned into a force to be reckoned with, too. The business, which Tyler Winklevoss continues to lead, is one of the largest crypto trading platforms with a reported US$100mn in daily volumes.
Deepcoin is a crypto derivatives trading platform that is primarily aimed at the Asian market. Before founding the company, CEO Eagle Huang had over ten years of digital experience and served as the head of a wealth management company with more than US$7bn of assets under management.
As Bitstamp CEO, he oversaw a period of enormous growth before leading Bitstamp into a majority buyout by Belgian investment firm NXMH in 2018. Kodrič remained as CEO for almost a decade and was on the board until February 2022. He’s now a board member at Standard Custody & Trust Company, a digital asset custody solution.
FTX describes itself as “a cryptocurrency exchange built by traders, for traders”. In fact, before starting the platform, Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was a trader himself, working on the international exchange-traded funds (ETF) desk of New York-based trading firm Jane Street Capital.