Top 50 Web3 Product Leaders to Watch
Find out who are the most influential and promising technology leaders shaping Web3 today.The list includes CTOs from projects, protocols, and the extended crypto industry.
CTO / CEO , Tether / Bitfinex
Paolo is one of the crypto heavy weights. Paolo Ardoino serves as the CTO of Bitfinex and now CEO of Tether - previously CTO at Tether. A coding prodigy since the age of 8, Ardoino is driven by a passion for leveraging technology to address global challenges. His leadership has been pivotal in building Tether into one of the most successful private companies in the crypto industry. Ardoino's expertise spans multiple programming languages, AI, blockchain, and financial tech, with a focus on scalability, reliability, and innovation. A staunch advocate of the cypherpunk and opensource movements, Ardoino continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in technology, making him a top CTO to follow
CTO, Blockchain.com
Matt Tuzzolo is a battle-tested engineering leader currently serving as CTO at Blockchain.com, one of the most widely used crypto platforms globally. With over a decade of experience at the intersection of software architecture and financial technology, Matt plays a critical role in ensuring Blockchain.com’s infrastructure scales securely for millions of users. Prior to joining, he held leadership positions at Netflix and earned his engineering stripes building distributed systems at scale. Tuzzolo is known for his pragmatic approach to engineering leadership and his commitment to bridging technical excellence with product velocity.
CTO, Kadena
John Wiegley, the CTO of Kadena, has an illustrious career spanning nearly 25 years, primarily in the C++ community where he specialized in compiler front-ends, linkers, and debuggers. Recently, he shifted his focus to functional programming, engaging with Haskell projects and theoretical research utilizing the Coq proof assistant. This transition highlights his passion for applying mathematical principles like category theory and abstract algebra to enhance engineering design. In the open-source community, John is renowned for his contributions to the Emacs editor and for creating the Ledger double-entry accounting program. He also shares his expertise through his technical blog at newartisans.com and supports fellow programmers on IRC.freenode.net under the handle 'johnw'. As CTO of Kadena, John continues to drive innovation in blockchain technology, merging deep technical expertise with strategic leadership.
CEO / Co founder, cLabs and Self Protocol (Celo)
Marek Olszewski is the co-founder of Celo and CEO of cLabs, where he leads efforts to make DeFi accessible to anyone with a smartphone. With a PhD in Computer Science from MIT and a background at Google, Marek brings deep expertise in distributed systems and cryptography. He was instrumental in designing Celo’s mobile-first infrastructure and lightweight identity layer, championing a vision of inclusive finance. Marek is also spearheading Self Protocol, aiming to revolutionize digital identity. His work blends academic rigor with real-world impact.
CEO / Co founder, dYdX
Antonio Juliano is the visionary behind dYdX, one of the leading decentralized derivatives exchanges in crypto. A former Coinbase and Uber engineer, Antonio launched dYdX to push the boundaries of on-chain trading, combining advanced financial instruments with decentralized trust. Under his leadership, dYdX evolved from a Layer 1 app into a fully sovereign Layer 1 based on Cosmos SDK. Juliano’s strong product mindset and technical intuition have helped define the future of non-custodial trading.
CTO, Circle
Li Fan is a seriously prominent figure in the world of technology and blockchain innovation, currently leading the innovative Circle's engineering team. With an illustrious career spanning various tech giants, Li has held pivotal roles such as Chief Technology Officer and interim Chief Product Officer at Lime, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Pinterest, Senior Director of Engineering at Google Inc., and Vice President of Engineering at Baidu, China. Her exceptional leadership and technical expertise have been instrumental in driving innovation and shaping the future of technology across diverse industries. Li's unparalleled track record and dedication to excellence make her a true rockstar and a rare talent in the world of blockchains.
Co Founder, Ava Labs
Kevin Sekniqi is the brains behind much of the technical strategy at Ava Labs, the team developing Avalanche, one of the fastest smart contract platforms in Web3. With a PhD in Computer Science from Cornell University, Kevin was a key researcher in Avalanche consensus protocol development. He continues to champion innovations in high-throughput consensus, subnets, and scalability. Whether it’s building infra, educating developers, or pushing L1 performance to new heights, Kevin is a force in the decentralized infrastructure race.
CTO / Co founder, ZenGo Wallet
Tal Be'ery is a seasoned Security Research Manager with an impressive track record in leading R&D teams from the ground up to develop cutting-edge products. Tal has extensive experience in diverse communication fields and protocols, with a particular emphasis on internet and telephony technologies. At ZenGo, a company that sets a high industry standard for wallet security, Tal has been instrumental in elevating their security measures to unprecedented levels. Under his technical leadership, ZenGo has pioneered several patented and patent-pending algorithmic solutions, ensuring robust security that stands out in the cryptocurrency wallet space. His efforts have solidified ZenGo's reputation as an exceptional leader in the space, committed to protecting user assets with advanced, innovative technologies.
CTO, Blockchain Foundry
Adrian Tan leads technology at Blockchain Foundry, a pioneer in Web3 consulting and blockchain infrastructure. With a background in cybersecurity and enterprise architecture, Adrian focuses on delivering production-grade decentralized apps and protocol integrations. From privacy-first tooling to NFT platforms, he brings a product-led engineering approach to Web3 problem-solving. Adrian is known for combining technical precision with practical delivery—a CTO deeply embedded in the real-world application of blockchain tech.
CEO, Trust Wallet
Eowyn Chen is the powerhouse leading Trust Wallet, the most downloaded mobile crypto wallet globally. Previously VP of Marketing at Binance, she brings a rare blend of technical depth and user-centric growth strategy. Under her leadership, Trust Wallet has grown into a secure, self-custodial gateway to Web3, empowering users to control their assets, NFTs, and dApps access with ease. Chen is a fierce advocate for financial sovereignty and UX simplicity in the decentralized world.
Former Head of Engineering and CEO OP labs, Founder ETH Global, OP labs, ETH Global
Liam Horne is a builder’s builder. As the CEO of OP Labs—the team behind the Optimism L2 ecosystem—he’s scaling Ethereum with speed and impact. He’s also the founder of ETHGlobal, the go-to hackathon and builder platform that has launched countless Web3 careers and projects. With a background in engineering and an obsession with community, Liam operates at the intersection of infrastructure and culture, making him one of the most influential leaders shaping Ethereum’s rollup-centric future.
CTO, Near AI
Eric Winer is the CTO at Near AI, where he’s fusing blockchain infrastructure with next-gen artificial intelligence. Previously VP of Engineering at Anchorage Digital and Head of Engineering at Gemini, Winer brings serious technical pedigree and security expertise to the table. Now at Near AI, he’s focused on building intelligent, decentralized systems that are developer-friendly and massively scalable. His work reflects a forward-thinking vision for what AI x Crypto can unlock.
CEO / co founder , Mysten Labs
Sam Blackshear brings a wealth of experienceto Mysten Labs from esteemed tech projects. Previously, Blackshear held the role of Principal Engineer at Novi Financial, contributing to the development of the Move language and the Diem platform. His journey into Move began as one of the founding engineers of the Libra project at Facebook, where he played a pivotal role in the creation of the Move programming language. Before that, he started his career at Facebook working on the Infer static analyzer, further solidifying his expertise in static analysis tools. Blackshear's academic journey is equally impressive, with research internships at Microsoft in 2011 and 2012, alongside a stint as a Research Assistant at the University of Colorado from 2010 to 2015. Holding a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the University of Colorado Boulder, Blackshear's expertise lies in programming languages. Additionally, he obtained a BA from Williams College, majoring in computer science and philosophy
Lead Engineer , Squid
Alexander Wolff is a core builder at Squid, the cross-chain liquidity and messaging protocol making interoperability seamless across EVM and Cosmos chains. With a deep background in distributed systems and DeFi infra, Wolff is driving the engineering behind Squid’s seamless routing and messaging architecture. His focus on UX, composability, and developer tools is helping redefine what’s possible in the multichain future, one transaction at a time.
CEO / Co founder, Boomfi
Jack Tang is the CEO and co-founder of Boomfi, a crypto-native payments platform unlocking automated on-chain commerce. Tang blends product instincts with technical fluency, making him a standout in the Web3 fintech space. Prior to Boomfi, he scaled multiple startups and honed his expertise in SaaS and payments infrastructure. His team’s focus on seamless crypto invoicing, tax compliance, and B2B tooling is powering a new wave of blockchain-native business tools.
CEO / Co founder , Curve Finance
Michael Egorov is a pioneering cryptographer and the mastermind behind Curve Finance, the most efficient stablecoin AMM in DeFi. With a background in physics and cryptography, Egorov engineered Curve’s unique bonding curves and governance mechanisms to maximize capital efficiency. A former CTO of NuCypher and early contributor to encryption protocols, Egorov is known for pushing the technical boundaries of DeFi with a deep emphasis on mathematical rigor and protocol design.
Co founder, Axelar
Georgios Vlachos is the co-founder of Axelar, the leading cross-chain communication network built to scale the multichain future. A former engineer at the Algorand Foundation and MIT graduate, Vlachos helped architect Axelar’s universal interoperability layer that allows dApps to communicate securely across chains. His work bridges the gap between application developers and underlying blockchain networks, establishing Axelar as a vital piece of Web3’s evolving infrastructure.
Co founder / CIO, Multivers X
Lucian Mincu is the Chief Information Officer and co-founder of MultiversX (formerly Elrond), where he plays a central role in building one of the most scalable blockchain architectures in the industry. With a background in DevOps and security engineering, Lucian has led the development of MultiversX’s adaptive state sharding and secure proof-of-stake consensus. He’s a key force behind the protocol’s high performance, security, and global reach in the decentralized ecosystem.
CTO, Sky Mavis
Andy Ho is the technical architect behind Sky Mavis, the team behind Axie Infinity and the Ronin blockchain. With a deep background in systems engineering, Andy led the development of Ronin, a high-throughput sidechain designed for NFT gaming. His work helped scale one of the most popular blockchain games in history, while tackling the unique performance and UX demands of Web3 gaming. Andy is a leader at the intersection of gaming, infrastructure, and community ownership.
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CTO, Chiliz
Thibaut Pelletier is the CTO at Chiliz, the Web3 sports and entertainment platform powering fan tokens and Socios.com. A senior architect and full-stack expert, Pelletier is building scalable blockchain solutions that connect fans with their favorite teams through tokenized engagement. Under his leadership, Chiliz has launched its own L1 chain and secured high-profile partnerships with global sports clubs. He is reshaping how loyalty and fandom are expressed on-chain.
CEO / COO, The Sandbox
Sebastien Borget is the co-founder and COO of The Sandbox, one of the most influential metaverse platforms in Web3. With a vision for true digital ownership and user-generated worlds, Sebastien has helped build a vibrant creator economy powered by NFTs and blockchain-based land. A vocal advocate for decentralization and open metaverse standards, his leadership has turned The Sandbox into a cultural hub where gaming, IP, and Web3 communities converge.
CTO / Co Founder, Chainlink
Steve Ellis has a career in software engineering and product development spanning over a decade. Graduating from New York University with a Bachelor's in Computer Science in 2010, Ellis honed his skills as a teaching assistant for the Computer Science department. His career journey commenced at Pivotal Labs, where he immersed himself in various engineering tasks from July 2010 to March 2013, focusing notably on extreme programming techniques for rapid software delivery. Before co-founding Chainlink in 2014, Ellis played a pivotal role as the CTO of Secure Asset Exchange. His efforts streamlined online access to a decentralized asset marketplace, fostering secure asset transactions without central oversight. Ellis's innovative contributions include developing an end-to-end conversion tool for seamless value transfer between diverse blockchains. As the cofounder and current CTO of Chainlink Labs, Ellis collaborated with Sergey Nazarov to publish Chainlink's white paper in 2017.
Ex CTO now CEO / Co founder, Aptos
Avery Ching started his career as a Principal Software Engineer at Yahoo! in 2007. Later, he assumed the role of Tech Lead at Meta, where he supervised a number of projects spanning blockchain development, wallet infrastructure, and batch processing teams, overseeing analytics for Meta's products. In December 2021, Ching co-founded Aptos. Aptos, a layer-1 proofof-stake blockchain infrastructure, features a Byzantine FaultTolerant PoS consensus mechanism named Block-STM. Aptos has partnered with entities like NPIXEL, Google Cloud, and MoonPay to enhance ux and expand decentralized application deployment.
CEO / Co founder, Uniswap Labs
Hayden Adams is the creator of Uniswap, the protocol that redefined decentralized trading through the simplicity of automated market makers (AMMs). A former mechanical engineer turned self-taught solidity dev, Adams launched Uniswap in 2018 and sparked the DeFi boom. Under his leadership, Uniswap Labs continues to push innovation with the UniswapX protocol and a strong focus on UX, governance, and protocol sustainability. He remains one of the most iconic builders in DeFi.
CTO, OpenSea
Nadav Hollander is the CTO of OpenSea, the world’s leading NFT marketplace. A Stanford Computer Science graduate and former Palantir engineer, Nadav co-founded Dharma before joining OpenSea. He now leads the technical strategy behind OpenSea’s core infrastructure and scalability, overseeing everything from NFT metadata standards to smart contract upgrades. His work underpins millions of NFT transactions and continues to push the boundaries of decentralized marketplaces.
CTO, Ledger
Charles Guillemet is the CTO of Ledger, a leading provider of hardware wallets for cryptocurrency security. With over six years at Ledger, Guillemet has been instrumental in advancing the security architecture of the company’s products, ensuring the safety of digital assets for millions of users worldwide. As an expert in cryptography and hardware security, he has spearheaded various innovations in Ledger’s wallet technology, including enhancing the robustness of the Ledger Nano series. Guillemet’s work has made Ledger a cornerstone in the crypto-security space, trusted by individuals and institutions alike.
CEO / Co founder, EverdreamSoft
Shaban Shaame is a pioneer in blockchain gaming and digital collectibles, best known as the creator of “Spells of Genesis,” one of the first blockchain-integrated games. As the CEO of EverdreamSoft and co-founder of Wakweli, he champions the use of tokenized assets for creativity, truth, and digital rights. With a background in game development and decentralization advocacy, Shaban has spent a decade at the frontier of NFTs, long before they became mainstream.
Co Founder, DexScreener
Andreas Diegues is the technical mind behind DexScreener, the go-to platform for real-time DEX analytics across dozens of chains. With a strong product-led approach and deep Web3 knowledge, Andreas helped create one of the most indispensable tools for degens, traders, and developers alike. His focus on performance, UX, and multichain coverage has made DexScreener a cornerstone of onchain transparency and data-driven decision-making in DeFi.
CTO, Cardano
Giorgio Zinetti is the Chief Technology Officer of Cardano, where he helps lead the evolution of one of the most research-driven blockchains in the world. With a background in software architecture and formal verification, Giorgio plays a pivotal role in translating peer-reviewed research into secure, scalable blockchain systems. His technical oversight ensures that Cardano maintains its focus on academic rigor, interoperability, and long-term resilience.
CKO, Former CTO, Animoca Brands
Yusuf Goolamabbas, now Chief Knowledge Officer at Animoca Brands, previously served as the company's CTO during its rapid expansion into Web3 gaming and the metaverse. With a background in distributed systems and large-scale data platforms, Yusuf has played a critical role in shaping Animoca’s infrastructure, partnerships, and product strategy. His engineering expertise continues to drive innovation across Animoca’s extensive portfolio of decentralized games and IP projects.
Co Founder, Ethena Labs
Guy Young is the co-founder of Ethena Labs, the protocol behind USDe, an innovative synthetic dollar aiming to redefine stablecoins. A former digital asset investor and macro analyst, Guy brings a unique mix of financial acumen and technical curiosity to the table. At Ethena, he’s leading the charge on building a scalable, yield-bearing, and censorship-resistant stablecoin backed by on-chain collateral and delta-neutral strategies, reshaping what digital money can look like.
CTO, Trezor
Tomas Susanka is the CTO at Trezor, one of the first and most trusted hardware wallets in crypto. With a deep focus on embedded systems, firmware security, and open-source transparency, Tomas oversees Trezor’s device innovation and key management tooling. His work ensures Trezor continues to stand at the forefront of self-custody, empowering users to control their assets without compromise.
CEO & Co-founder, Arianee
Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel is the CEO and co-founder of Arianee, a protocol for digital product passports and on-chain identity. With a background in law, events, and sustainability, Hurstel brings a unique interdisciplinary approach to Web3. Under his leadership, Arianee has become a trusted partner for luxury, fashion, and industrial brands seeking verifiable provenance and engagement through NFTs. He’s driving the narrative that blockchain is essential for transparency, ownership, and brand-consumer trust.
CTO & Co-founder, Sodot
Shalev Keren is the Co-founder & CTO of Sodot, a modern key management platform built for Web3. Sodot offers self-hosted, high-performance MPC infrastructure that gives teams full control over their keys. Shalev is leading the charge to make secure, scalable key management easier for wallets, protocols, and custodians, combining strong cryptography with real-world usability.
CEO & Co-founder, Blockaid
Ido Ben-Natan is the co-founder and CEO of Blockaid, a security-first company focused on protecting Web3 users from scams, exploits, and malicious dApps. With experience in both military cybersecurity and blockchain ecosystems, Ido is pioneering transaction simulation and preemptive detection as standard safeguards in crypto wallets and apps. His work plays a key role in making Web3 safer and more trustworthy for all participants.
CTO, Paymium
Dominique Rodrigues is the long-standing CTO of Paymium, one of the oldest Bitcoin exchanges in Europe. With a background in computer science and applied mathematics, Dominique has led Paymium’s secure trading architecture since the early days of crypto. He is also a strong advocate of protocol-level decentralization and co-developer of the "B2BPay" protocol, which brings Bitcoin payments to businesses in a seamless, regulatory-compliant way.
CEO & Co-Founder, Morpho Labs
Paul Frambot is the CEO and co-founder of Morpho Labs, the team behind the Morpho protocol—an innovative lending layer built on top of DeFi giants like Aave and Compound. With a deep technical background and a clear vision for capital efficiency, Paul designed Morpho to optimize yield and liquidity via peer-to-peer matching. He’s regarded as one of the brightest young minds in DeFi, driving the next evolution of decentralized finance infrastructure.
CEO & Founder, Cometh - Eth France President
Jerome de Tychey is a veteran of the Ethereum ecosystem and the founder of Cometh, a Web3 game studio and infrastructure provider. As President of Ethereum France and co-founder of the EthCC conference, Jerome has been instrumental in growing the Ethereum developer community in Europe. At Cometh, he’s building wallet-as-a-service tools and gamified dApps that merge usability with crypto-native principles. A true community builder, his work spans technical development, education, and ecosystem advocacy.
CTO & Founder, DockHive
Abdulkereem Kereem is the founder and CTO of DockHive, a platform focused on decentralized developer collaboration. With a background in DevOps and infrastructure automation, Kereem is building tools that bring Git-native workflows and DAO governance to project management. His mission is to make decentralized work coordination seamless and open-source contribution more rewarding, helping Web3 dev teams scale with autonomy and trust.
CPO & Co-founder, Shares
Harjas Singh is the Chief Product Officer and co-founder of Shares, a social investing platform that blends finance and community. Harjas leads product and technology at the intersection of Web3 and fintech, with a focus on user experience, accessibility, and social coordination. His approach reimagines how people interact with markets—bringing transparency, gamification, and Web3-native elements to retail investing.
CTO, Plama
Hans Walter Behrens is the CTO of Plama, a decentralized finance platform focused on transparency and composability in protocol design. With a track record in backend systems and smart contract security, Hans is passionate about protocol-level innovation and user protection. He is especially known for pushing the boundaries of modular DeFi infrastructure while maintaining high standards of performance and auditability.
CEO & Founder, Eigen Layer
Sreeram Kannan is the founder of EigenLayer, a groundbreaking restaking protocol that extends Ethereum’s security to new services. A professor at the University of Washington and an expert in distributed systems, Sreeram blends deep academic research with protocol design. His vision enables a new primitive in crypto infrastructure—allowing decentralized networks to leverage Ethereum's trust assumptions without spinning up their own validator sets. He’s one of the most cited minds in the restaking movement.
CTO & Founder, Orca
Stephen Kemmerling is the co-founder and CTO of Orca, one of Solana’s most user-friendly DEXs. With a background in human-centered design and smart contract development, Stephen has been instrumental in making DeFi on Solana approachable and elegant. His work includes developing Orca’s signature Concentrated Liquidity Pools and UX innovations, setting new standards for performance and usability in decentralized trading.
CTO & Co-Founder, Jito
Zano Sherwani is the CTO and co-founder of Jito Network, a platform for liquid restaking on Solana. He holds a degree in Computer Science from George Mason University and a certification in AWS DevOps Engineering. Before co-founding Jito Labs in 2021 with Lucas Bruder, Sherwani worked as a full-stack developer and software engineer at companies like Hungry and Amazon. His collaboration with Bruder began on Twitter, where they connected over their shared interest in MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) on Solana. Sherwani aligns with Solana’s "engineering-first" culture, appreciating its innovative approach to block propagation through real-time streaming. He believes this gives Solana a unique advantage over traditional blockchain networks like Ethereum. Sherwani’s focus on solving technical challenges and promoting open-source solutions has positioned Jito Labs as an influential player in the Solana ecosystem, particularly in advancing MEV capture and redistribution.
CEO & Co-Founder, Ondo Finance
Nathan Allman is the founder and CEO of Ondo Finance, a protocol focused on tokenizing institutional-grade financial products. Formerly at Goldman Sachs, Nathan is pioneering the intersection of TradFi and DeFi by bringing compliant yield products, real-world assets, and tokenized treasuries to crypto markets. His work is shaping the future of on-chain investing with transparency and regulatory alignment at its core.
CTO, Algorand
John Woods is the Chief Technology Officer at Algorand Foundation, leading the charge in expanding one of the industry’s most efficient and environmentally friendly blockchains. With a background in cryptography and enterprise systems, Woods is known for simplifying complex infrastructure for global adoption. He frequently shares deep-dive technical content with the developer community, making him both a builder and an educator in the Web3 space.
CTO, Stripe
Rahul Patil is the Chief Technology Officer at Stripe, where he oversees the engineering of financial infrastructure for the internet. While Stripe is traditionally Web2, under Rahul’s leadership the company has begun making deliberate moves into crypto, including stablecoin payments and crypto-native integrations. His work is at the frontier of Web2.5, bridging modern fintech with blockchain rails in a seamless, developer-first experience.
CTO & Co-Founder, Privy
Asta Li is the technical co-founder of Privy, a platform that helps developers bring Web2 onboarding to Web3 apps. With a background at Stanford, Dropbox, and Bridgewater, Asta brings elite engineering to decentralized identity and authentication. Her work simplifies complex topics like wallet abstraction and data privacy, enabling developers to onboard millions without sacrificing decentralization. She’s one of the key figures rethinking access and UX in Web3.
CTO, Binance
Rohit Wad is the Chief Technology Officer of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume. With over two decades of engineering leadership at Microsoft, Google, and Twitter, Rohit brings world-class infrastructure expertise to the crypto space. At Binance, he's focused on platform reliability, scalability, and compliance at a truly global scale. Rohit’s approach blends enterprise-grade engineering with the speed and agility required in Web3, making him a key figure in the institutional maturation of the blockchain industry.
CTO, Deblock
Mario Eguiluz Alebicto is the CTO at Deblock, a venture studio and Web3 product builder supporting early-stage startups. With a foundation in blockchain engineering and technical due diligence, Mario leads both the strategic and hands-on aspects of building scalable dApps. He plays a critical role in validating and accelerating Web3 projects from concept to launch, blending technical depth with a strong product sense.
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This report has been compiled by the Tatum.io team by evaluating each CTO based on a combination of unique criteria.
The list is not compiled in any particular order. For further inquiry please contact: press@tatum.io
