Crypto Hits the Big Time After Coinbase CEO Makes Rising Star List

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• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has been honored by Time magazine in the inaugural TIME 100 Next list.
• Four crypto and blockchain startups appeared in the 2019 CNBC Upstart 100.
• Startups featured on the CNBC list must have raised $50 million or less in VC funding.

This has been a good week for individuals and startups in the crypto and blockchain space. Within a span of hours, players in the sector have been recognized by two mainstream media organizations – CNBC and Time magazine – over their potential to influence the future.

Four crypto and blockchain startups were featured in the 2019 CNBC Upstart 100, a list of the world’s most promising startups to watch. At the same time, Coinbase Co-Founder and CEO Brian Armstrong made the inaugural TIME 100 Next list, joining about a dozen other innovators.

Besides Coinbase, Armstrong is also the founder of GiveCrypto.org, which donates cryptocurrencies to the poor.

Time magazine has been running a list of the 100 most influential people in the world for over a decade under the TIME 100 banner. TIME 100 Next, however, honors rising stars shaping the future of the world in business, technology, entertainment, advocacy, and so on.

CNBC 2019 Upstart 100

In CNBC’s 2019 Upstart 100 list, four crypto and blockchain firms were honored. To be eligible, startups must have $50 million or less in venture capital. The startups must also be under half a decade old.

The cryptocurrency and blockchain startups that made an appearance on the list are cmorq, FintruX, Lolli, and Xage Security.

Lolli rewards online shoppers in Bitcoin | Source: Lolli

ShapeShift bitcoin exchange honored in 2018

The number of startups in this year’s CNBC Upstart 100 list is the same as last year. In 2018, one of the featured blockchain and crypto startups was the Switzerland-based digital asset exchange founded by Erik Voorhees, ShapeShift AG.

Others included blockchain-based global payments platform Veem, decentralized computing network and app ecosystem Blockstack, and billing and payments service Paystand.

In 2017, when CNBC first released the list of promising startups to watch, there was a conspicuous absence of cryptocurrency and blockchain startups. At the time, the list comprised of only 25 firms, however.