Crypto has shifted from being led by pseudonymous builders to being defined by founders and leaders who lead visibly and publicly on the world stage. In crypto’s early phase, anonymity was common, even necessary. Satoshi, Bitcoin’s creator, set this precedent because the concept of a new currency was so paradigm-shifting that it could threaten the status quo.
A decade later, during “DeFi Summer” of 2021, which saw an explosion of new protocols launch and become popular, projects emerged without public-facing teams. Token communities rallied around ideas rather than individuals. Regulations and potential repercussions on individuals were uncertain. Therefore, being anonymous remained necessary.
However, today, in a market flooded with new protocols and regulation, personal brands have become one of the strongest drivers of adoption and visibility. Trust and reputation in Web3 now centres on making technology understandable and credible through the people leading the charge.
In the New Web3 Era, Trust Rests on Visible Leadership
The professionalization of crypto with “mainstream” finance instruments like stocks (via IPOs) and ETFs comes with expectations of greater accountability and clear leadership.
This recent wave of growth has looked very different from its anonymous beginnings. Institutional involvement has grown with institutions participating, such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Standard Chartered, as regulatory clarity improves.
Today, a founder’s personal reputation and background often shape how their project is perceived, sometimes more than the strength of the underlying technology. Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong’s presence on Capitol Hill alongside other founders has been tied to the strengthening of the relationship between industry and government. Vitalik Buterin’s visibility and continued vision-setting give Ethereum credibility and continuity.
An important recent example of the need for visible leadership was this year, when the Ethereum Foundation introduced an “exciting new chapter in the Foundation’s evolution as we continue to support a growing Ethereum ecosystem.” This was a response to growing concerns from the community about Ethereum’s future.
Olas founder David Minarsch speaks at EthCC 2025 in Cannes
Founders and leadership teams should no longer sit out of the public conversation if they want to be taken seriously by regulators, institutions, and users and to build lasting confidence.
People, Not Protocols, Drive Media Narratives
Great products don’t speak for themselves; founders do.
While reading whitepapers and rallying around code commits on public forums used to be how knowledge of early crypto technology spread, the landscape has significantly changed.
Today, in highly competitive free marketplaces of ideas – especially with emerging technologies like crypto – bold and clear voices are needed to cut through the noise.
Illia Polosukhin, considered one of the founding fathers of modern AI, positions the NEAR protocol as “the blockchain for AI” by connecting its technical roadmap to his former AI research. Jesse Pollak of Base blends his development background in Coinbase and consistent community-facing visibility to create attention far beyond the Base protocol itself. DeFi founder Paul Frambot of Morpho uses both his visionary and technical leadership to make Morpho’s story accessible and compelling to DeFi and TradFi audiences.
Journalists and audiences connect more easily with individual voices than abstract technologies. Founder-led storytelling transforms complex concepts, such as AI and Web3, chain abstraction, and zero-knowledge proofs, into narratives that both mainstream and crypto-native audiences can follow.
Isidoros (Izzy) Passadis, Head of Staking at Lido Labs speaks at EthCC 2025
Consistent media visibility, through opinion pieces, podcasts, and social engagement, directly shapes how ecosystems are perceived and how they will rise and thrive.
Founders should leverage building their personal brands to shape media narratives, make complex ideas accessible, and create lasting connections with communities.
Humanizing Web3 is Becoming a Strategic Advantage
Crypto still carries a reputation problem: technical jargon, opaque governance, and recurring scandals make mainstream trust fragile.
Putting founders and leaders forward helps bridge this gap. People explain motives and vision in ways whitepapers can’t. Projects that invest in personal branding gain narrative control, attract stronger partnerships, and build loyalty even in volatile markets.
In a space where products are easy to replicate, the credibility and relatability of leaders are what increasingly differentiate one protocol from another.
As crypto moves deeper into the mainstream – with more IPOs, ETFs, fintech and banking developments, and Senate hearings – regulators and institutions expect trustworthy faces to engage with. Visible founders and leadership give protocols a seat at the table. Silence and anonymity risk projects becoming irrelevant as the rest of the industry moves forward and engages publicly.
Seven years ago, crypto projects could succeed without anyone knowing who built them. However, as Web3 has matured, investors, developers, and the media now look for credible voices behind the technology. Founders and leaders have become central to how projects are understood, trusted, and adopted. In Web3, where technology can be forked overnight, consistent visible leadership has become one of the strongest competitive advantages.