Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is the most popular personality in the cryptocurrency industry, a new study has revealed.
The study, conducted by cryptocurrency tax software CoinLedger, combined social media followings from both X and Instagram to reveal which well-known cryptocurrency popularities are statistically the most popular worldwide.
The ten most popular personalities in cryptocurrency
| Rank | Name | Number of X and Instagram followers combined |
| 1 | Changpeng Zhao | 9,071,000 |
| 2 | Vitalik Buterin | 7,700,000 |
| 3 | Jack Dorsey | 6,400,000 |
| 4 | Michael Saylor | 3,244,000 |
| 5 | Cathie Wood | 1,602,090 |
| 6 | Chamath Palihapitiya | 1,600,000 |
| 7 | Marc Andreessen | 1,300,000 |
| 8 | Barry Silbert | 1,252,400 |
| 9 | Brian Armstrong | 1,204,547 |
| 10 | Sam Bankman-Fried | 1,066,300 |
With a combined social media following of more than nine million (9,071,000) on both X and Instagram, Changpeng Zhao is the most popular personality in the cryptocurrency industry. More than 8.6 million of his followers are from X, which is the most of any character on the platform. Zhao is the co-founder and CEO of Binance which – as of July 2022 – is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.
Vitalik Buterin is the second most famous personality in cryptocurrency, with a combined social media following of 7.7 million. The Ethereum co-founder is also the most popular personality on Instagram, with 2.7 million followers on the website.
Block Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey ranked third with a combined social media following of 6,400,000. All his followers came from X (formerly known as Twitter) after he deleted his Instagram account. Dorsey co-founded Twitter and was previously the company’s CEO before selling it to Elon Musk.
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By GlobalDataExecutive chairman and co-founder of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, is the fourth most famous personality in cryptocurrency. The American entrepreneur has a combined social media following of over 3.2 million (3,244,000) with 3.1 million coming from X.
With a combined social media following of more than 1.6 million, Cathie Wood, CEO of investment management firm Ark Invest, ranked fifth. Wood has been named one of 50 people shaping global business by Bloomberg.
Chamath Palihapitiya is the sixth most famous personality in cryptocurrency with a social media following of 1.6 million, all of which are on X. Palihapitiya was an early investor in Bitcoin and at one point personally held around 5% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply.
Marc Andreesen is the seventh most famous personality in cryptocurrency, with a social media following of 1.3 million. Andreesen is a cofounder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and an inductee in the World Wide Web Hall of Fame.
With a combined social media following of more than 1.25 million (1,252,400), Barry Silbert is the eight most famous personality in cryptocurrency. He is the second most followed personality on Instagram, with 493,000 followers, and is the founder and CEO of the blockchain company Digital Currency Group.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (1,204,547) ranked in ninth. Armstrong also co-founded GiveCrypto, a platform that encourages giving cryptocurrency to underprivileged people who otherwise cannot access finance opportunities.
Despite his fraud convictions, Sam Bankman-Fried (1,066,300), ranked in tenth.
Meanwhile, Tyler Winklevoss (1,058,000) and his twin brother, Cameron (767,800) also ranked in the top 15. The brothers are known for co-founding HarvardConnection – later renamed ConnectU – along with Harvard classmate Divya Narendra. In 2004, the brothers sued Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, after he allegedly he stole their ConnectU idea to create the popular networking site.
CoinLedger co-founder and CEO, David Kemmerer, commented on the findings: “This data offers a fascinating insight into the people within the crypto sphere who hold the most influence, and many of the names that feature in this study helped to popularize the cryptocurrency industry. Without their influence, hundreds of millions of people who now invest in cryptocurrencies wouldn’t have been afforded the opportunity to do so.”
