Cryptos and Blockchain have become household terms as the world has evolved in terms of technology and moved towards a comprehensive digital world. Recently, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and various altcoins have reached their all-time highs, attributed to the highly anticipated Bitcoin Halving event 2024.

Looking at history, we can say India and crypto have shared a rocky relationship. Still, today, the crypto space has come a long way, which was not possible without the contribution of many people. Some of these Indian influencers have been extremely proactive in spreading awareness of crypto, while others have been instrumental in educating the youth about Blockchain and its applications.

We did some research and listed the top 4 trending and most influential Indians in the crypto/blockchain space. Let’s have a look at them.

#1 Balaji Srinivasan

Balaji S. Srinivasan is considered one of the well-known figures in the Web3 space. He is an entrepreneur, angel investor, and the former CTO of Coinbase.

Before getting into crypto, Srinivasan thought he would be a professor at Stanford University after completing his PhD. He then co-founded Counsyl, a genomics startup, with his graduate school friends and brother Ramji. When Srinivasan founded the company in 2007, everyone was advising against it. However, the company went on to become a huge success and now scans the DNA of parents in 3% of all births in the United States. 

After founding Counsyl, he launched 21.co, a Bitcoin mining startup that eventually morphed into Earn.com. Coinbase later bought Earn.com for a rumored $100 million, placing Srinivasan in a seat next to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong as the company’s CTO.

#2 Naval Ravikant

An Indian-American entrepreneur and investor, Naval Ravikant is the chairman, co-founder, and former CEO of AngelList.

He is among the Fellow of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship and a renowned podcaster, where he shares health, wealth, and happiness advice. He has invested early-stage in almost 200 companies, including Uber, FourSquare, Twitter, and Wish.com, with over 70 total exits and 10+ Unicorn companies.

Moreover, Naval runs a short-form podcast at Nav.al and Spearhead. He discusses philosophy, business, and investing and has been a podcast guest of various popular celebrities. Notable ones are The Joe Rogan Experience, The Tim Ferriss Show, Coffee with Scott Adams, The James Altucher Show, and Farnam Street.

Ravikant co-founded MetaStable Capital in 2014, a crypto hedge fund that owns Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptos. Many large investors have funded this company, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Union Square Ventures, Founders Fund, and Bessemer Venture Partners.

#3 Nischal Shetty

Nischal Shetty, the co-founder of WazirX, is one of the most influential Indian Blockchain spaces. A gifted software developer and entrepreneur, Nischal was featured in Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 in India.

Nischal started his software development career in 2004, when he built a “bug” game in C++, and eventually landed a job at 3i Infotech. After working in the food-tech industry for a while, he co-founded Crowdfire along with Samir Mhatre (co-founder of WazirX). He started taking Blockchain seriously in 2017, around the time of the Bitcoin bull run, eventually leading to the birth of WazirX in 2018, which he founded with Samir Mhatre and Siddharth Menon.

Just after the RBI blanket ban on transacting cryptos through the banking channels, Nishcal spearheaded the monumental #IndiaWantsCrypto campaign until the Supreme Court repealed the ban, calling it unconstitutional.

Recently, he co-founded Shardeum, which adds another layer to his involvement in the crypto space and makes him a leading figure among crypto enthusiasts. Also in 2024, Nischal, along with Zebpay’s CEO, launched Pi42, a new crypto-INR Futures Exchange that lets Indians trade crypto without having to face 1% TDS on each transaction.

#4 Ajeet Khurana

Ajeet Khurana has always been a leading name in the startup ecosystem. He is an author, angel investor, mentor, TEDx speaker, and former head of the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee, which, as part of IAMAI, is India’s foremost industry body for crypto. He has been an ex-advisor to Kalaari Capital and former CEO of IIT Bombay’s business incubator.

He is an advisor to various crypto projects. He specializes in:

• Tokenomics: pools, structure, architecture, flow, utility, value
• Market Mechanisms: market making, liquidity, listing, volume.
• In addition, he helps with increasing adoption, communication, evangelizing, ambassador programs, and digital outreach. Some crypto founders regard Ajeet as their personal friend, philosopher, and guide.

Another feather in his hat was being a part of the team behind the TV show ‘The Vault.’

Back in 1993, as a lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, he taught e-commerce.

He completed his undergraduate degree in computer engineering at the University of Mumbai and an MBA at the University of Texas at Austin. From starting two ventures as a solopreneur to helping many startups with their go-to-market, Ajeet Khurana firmly believes that small business owners must be facilitated extensively.

Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is not a legal tender and is currently unregulated. Kindly ensure that you undertake sufficient risk assessment when trading cryptocurrencies as they are often subject to high price volatility. The information provided in this section doesn't represent any investment advice or WazirX's official position. WazirX reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend or change this blog post at any time and for any reasons without prior notice.