The world of cryptoactives has experienced very significant growth in 2017. It is not only the price of these instruments and their market capitalization: cryptocurrencies has gained ground as an everyday topic in many countries and with them, many of their leaders have become true figures in the ecosystem and beyond.

In this article I bring you the 10 most representative characters of 2017. Enthusiastic, controversial, enterprising, together they are the builders of the future of the world's finances, with responsibility for the development of cryptoactives in their hands.

The Russian is still a reference figure in the ecosystem. Creator of Ethereum, he wisely guides the growth of this network, whose cryptoactive -the ether- had a very significant growth in 2017, going from about 8 dollars in January to more than 800 today.

Buterin has not gone unnoticed. Whether it's his bizarre way of dressing or his biting opinions on different ecosystem topics, Ethereum's creator has been one of this year's names. The Russian returned to Fortune 40 under 40 as one of the most influential millionaires in the world. However, he was also involved in a controversy by making statements about child pornography possession, although he later clarified that he had no such sexual inclinations.

The developer collaborated closely with the implementation of the Ethereum blockchain forced bifurcations, and even met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, increasing rumours about the possibility of the world power adopting blockchain for the development of its internal policies.

Baldet is also on Fortune's 40 under 40 list and is the leader of the team that develops Quorum, JP Morgan's blockchain application based on Ethereum. This software is designed to meet the needs of large companies in the use of this technology, especially around scalability, performance and privacy.

He is a regular speaker on computing, demonstrating that there can be a clear consensus between Wall Street and the cryptographic world. Baldet is passionate about blockchain and cryptoactives, whose experience has allowed her to participate in various events associated with cryptoactives since 2013.

The founder of Litecoin has been a proper name for the ecosystem in 2017. The network has grown significantly, demonstrating very high processing power. In addition, the network's cryptoactive has grown significantly, bringing high returns to investors.

Lee recently reported that he donated and sold all the litecoins he owned in order to avoid conflicts of interest. As he explained, the decision arose because of the constant polemics that had caused his comments on the market, meriting accusations of market manipulation. Lee decided to cut himself clean and get rid of his cryptoactives, but stressed that he would continue to lead the project.

In addition, Lee launched an audiovisual project called The Magical Crypto Friends, together with the founder of Monero, Riccardo Spagni, the personality of Twitter, Whale Panda and Samson Mow, CEO of pixelmatic; in which they comment and analyze the behavior of the cryptoactives market with a humorous and entertaining volume, as well as the daily events of the different blockchain networks.

Monero's founder has also given us something to talk about during 2017. In addition to participating in The Magical Crypto Friends, Spagni has been one of the most biting characters in the ecosystem. Through his Twitter social networking account, called FluffyPony, Spagni has commented on ecosystem movements throughout the year, using irony on many occasions.

During this year Monero has been the protagonist of the Coral Reef project, through which a good number of music artists have begun to accept Monero as a means of payment. Spagni has been a major player in its growth.

Spagni is one of the most ardent supporters of decentralization and non-regulation that prevails in the ecosystem. Today, it is one of the most representative leaders in technology and blockchain regulation issues, driving the potential of this technology for several future applications. Monero's growth this year has helped it position itself as a benchmark for anonymity and ecosystem security.

Seeing is one of the most controversial characters in the ecosystem. This 2017 launched the Bitcoin Cash project, Bitcoin fork which sought to increase the size of its blockchain blocks. However, although Bitcoin Cash was born from BTC, Ver has insisted that this new cryptoactive is the "real" Bitcoin. In fact, Ver is carrying out its project using bitcoin. com as a web portal, something that has generated inconveniences for users due to the similarity with bitcoin. org, Bitcoin's portal.

Roger Ver, CEO of Bitcoin. com and a leading promoter of Bitcoin Cash. Recently, during a streaming interview with John Carvalho, Ver lost patience at the insistence of the first to call Bitcoin Cash a cryptomoneda, making obscene gestures and becoming the target of many memes. Ver's attitude in defending this new cryptoactive has been extremely combative.

However, the centralization of this network has deserved a lot of criticism in view of the fact that it attempts against one of the main values of the cryptocurrencies. Seeing goes ahead with Bitcoin Cash and after a significant rise in its price, probably in 2018 brings more controversy with it.