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|5 min ReadThe 2025 Power List: 10 Kings Who Industrialized the Crypto Casino
Jax Morales
Senior Analyst
Published
Jan 16, 2026
Stop calling it a "Bull Market." The correct term is Institutionalization. 2025 was the year crypto ceased to be a counter-culture movement and became a line item on sovereign balance sheets.
Bitcoin hit $126,000. USDT surpassed $183B. The "GENIUS Act" passed. But the real story is the transfer of keys. The power has shifted from cypherpunks to suits, sovereigns, and sociopaths.
Here is the hierarchy of the new order.
1. Donald Trump: The Grifter-in-Chief
Trump didn't just embrace crypto; he monetized the presidency. His "Official Meme Coin" on Solana generated $350M in net profit, blurring the line between statecraft and rug-pulls.
The Move: Signed Executive Order 14178 to ban CBDCs and legitimize stablecoins. Meanwhile, his family secured a 38% equity stake in the $2.7B World Liberty Financial stablecoin empire.
The Verdict: He turned political capital into liquidity. The "TACO Trade" (Trump-driven volatility) is now the primary market driver.
2. Michael Saylor: The Corporate Central Bank
Saylor is no longer a CEO; he is a cult leader with a balance sheet. MicroStrategy (rebranded as "Strategy") holds 671,268 BTC. He invented the DAT (Digital Asset Treasury) model, forcing 192 other public companies to follow suit.
The Risk: With mNAV hovering critically near 1.0, he is playing a high-stakes game of leverage. But as long as BTC holds $100k, he is invincible.
3. Tom Lee: The Wall Street Bridge
While others panicked, Lee sold the "Supercycle." He successfully framed Ethereum's stagnation as an accumulation phase, pushing ETH to nearly $5,000.
The Conflict: He isn't just an analyst; he chairs BitMine (holding over 4M ETH). He talks his book, and Wall Street listens.
4. CZ (Changpeng Zhao): The Shadow Emperor
Prison didn't break him; it upgraded him. CZ returned with Binance Alpha 2.0, crushing competitors and activating the BSC ecosystem to threaten Solana.
The Flex: A single tweet about a "meme season" redistributed $500M in wealth. He traded the CEO title for absolute, unseen influence.
5. Vitalik Buterin: The Philosopher King
Vitalik is fighting a war for Ethereum's soul. As institutions corner the ETH supply, he launched the GKR Protocol (a new ZK framework) to keep the chain decentralized.
The Warning: He is the only one warning about Quantum Computing breaking encryption by 2028. While everyone counts profits, he counts the days until the cryptography breaks.
6. Kim Jong Un: The State-Sponsored Hacker
Forget taxes; North Korea runs a "Crypto Treasury." The Reconnaissance General Bureau stole $2.02 Billion in 2025 alone.
The Reality: This is not theft; it is an asymmetric revenue stream. Crypto is now directly funding nuclear warheads.
7. Elon Musk: The Volatility Engine
Musk proved that Personal Authority > Decentralized Protocol. Tesla missed the BTC pump, but Musk's influence over the Meme economy remains absolute.
The Shift: With a $1 Trillion pay package and a role in the "Dept of Government Efficiency," he represents the ultimate centralization of power.
8. Justin Sun: The Survivor
Justin Sun is "Chaos Neutral." He made $456M supporting TUSD and listed TRON via a reverse merger.
The Skill: He survives every crash and evades every regulator. He doesn't play by the rules; he exploits the bugs in the code.
9. Brian Armstrong: The Compliance Warlord
Armstrong played the long game and won. He cemented Coinbase as the "Too Big To Fail" bank of crypto by acquiring Deribit for $2.9 Billion, cornering the global derivatives market.
The Strategy: He moved HQ to Texas and backed pro-crypto politicians. He is the suit that makes crypto safe for Boomers.
10. Peter Thiel: The Infrastructure Monopolist
Thiel doesn't buy coins; he buys the casino. His Founders Fund cornered the market on Layer 2s and led the $68M round for Lighter, the unicorn DEX.
The End Game: He believes the 100x days are over. The new game is monopoly control over the plumbing of finance.
Disclaimer: This document is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed in this document are not, and should not be taken as, investment advice or recommendations. Recipients should do their own due diligence, taking into account their specific financial circumstances, investment objectives and risk tolerance, which are not considered here, before investing. This document is not an offer, or the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any of the assets mentioned.