You can get a crypto founders list from NAUT, which tracks 1,298 people flagged as founders at 752 live crypto project companies, counted on 12 November 2026. Of those 1,298 founders, 1,009 carry an X handle and 687 a LinkedIn URL on NAUT's record, and a wider search on founder, CEO and chief executive titles returns 4,267 people at 2,709 project companies.
Data note. Every count here was read from NAUT's own database on 12 November 2026, read-only. The headline list is people carrying NAUT's founder flag whose main company is a live, unmerged project row. The wider list is anyone whose current role at a live project company has founder, CEO or chief executive in the title. The sector, chain, country and channel splits below come from that wider list. Research put 5 named rows from the top of the list to the company's own website: 1 was confirmed, 4 came back unconfirmed and are left out. NAUT Research wrote it.
Where can you get a crypto founders list?
Start on NAUT, because it holds both halves of the job: the founder and the company they run, on linked pages.
- The flagged list: 1,298 founders at 752 teams, 1,009 with X, 687 with LinkedIn.
- The title list: 4,267 founder, CEO and chief executive contacts at 2,709 teams.
- Pages: 3,720 of the 4,267 have a NAUT person page of their own.
- Channels on the title list: 3,099 with X, 2,930 with LinkedIn, 2,065 with Telegram, 253 with email.
Use the flagged list when you want founders only. Use the title list when a CEO who never founded the company is still the person you need, which is the usual case for a BD pitch or an investor intro.
How do you filter a crypto founders list by sector?
Pick the sector first. A company carries more than 1 sector tag, so 1 founder can count in several rows and the rows do not add up to 4,267.
| Sector | People | Companies |
|---|---|---|
| DeFi | 1,114 | 628 |
| Infrastructure | 947 | 518 |
| AI | 618 | 347 |
| L1/2/3 | 545 | 269 |
| Gaming | 438 | 233 |
| RWA | 347 | 185 |
| DEX | 281 | 168 |
| Tools | 252 | 152 |
| DePIN | 230 | 124 |
| Payment | 224 | 134 |
| Privacy | 200 | 110 |
| Stablecoins | 197 | 120 |
The table is ranked by founder and CEO contacts (People), with the project companies they sit at, for the 12 largest sectors on NAUT's record. DEX means decentralized exchange. DeFi leads with 1,114 people at 628 companies, so a DeFi BD list starts deeper than any other.
How do you filter web3 founders by chain?
Chain is the second cut, and it suits a team that sells to builders on 1 network. Ethereum carries the most founder and CEO contacts.
A multichain company counts on each of its chains. Country is a weak filter: 3,132 of the 4,267 carry no country on NAUT's record and 246 more carry a blank one, against 431 in the United States, 59 each in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, and 57 in Singapore.
Token status splits the list too. 1,997 founder and CEO contacts sit at a company with a launched token and 2,418 at a company without one. A person with 2 current roles can count on both sides, so the 2 figures add to more than 4,267.
Which blockchain startup founders top the list?
The 9 rows below come from the top of NAUT's founder and CEO title list, ranked by the company's X follower count on NAUT's record. Role is NAUT's stored title and company, and Channels lists which of X, LinkedIn, Telegram and email NAUT holds for the person. Titles are NAUT's own; only Yi He's was checked against the company's site.
| Founder | Role | Channels |
|---|---|---|
 Yi He |
Co-CEO and Co-Founder at  Binance |
X, LinkedIn, Telegram |
 Star Xu |
Founder at  OKX |
X, LinkedIn |
 Gleb Kostarev |
Co-Founder & CEO at  Blum |
X, LinkedIn, email |
 Vladimir Smerkis |
Co-Founder at Blum |
X, LinkedIn, Telegram, email |
 Igor Pugachevsky |
Co-Founder and VP of Product Design at Blum |
|
 Jackson Palmer |
Co-Founder at  Dogecoin |
X, LinkedIn, Telegram |
 Billy Markus |
Co-Founder at Dogecoin |
X, Telegram |
 Nicolas Kokkalis |
CEO, Founder at  Pi Network |
X, LinkedIn |
 Chengdiao Fan |
Co-Founder at Pi Network |
X, LinkedIn |
Binance's about page names Yi He as Co-CEO and Co-Founder, with The Block reporting the co-CEO appointment on 3 December 2025. The other 8 rows were never read outside NAUT. Of the 15 rows at the top of the list, research checked 5 and 4 of those 5 did not hold up, so 6 rows were dropped in all: those 4, 1 whose stored title reads former, and 1 at a company whose checked row did not hold up. Check the seat on the person's own profile before you write.
Anyone listed can ask NAUT to remove their page at https://naut.so/legal/data-deletion.
How do you turn the list into crypto founder contacts?
A list is only as good as the next step. Work it in this order.
- Filter by sector, then chain, then token status, so the list matches what you sell or fund.
- Open each company page and read its whole team, since a CEO or a head of partnerships may own your deal.
- Check the title on the person's own X bio or the company site.
- Pick 1 channel per person: X covers 3,099 of the 4,267, and email only 253.
- Pick a sectorDeFi holds 1,114 founder and CEO contacts at 628 companies on NAUT.
- Narrow by chainEthereum carries 1,233 of them, BNB Chain 866, Base 567.
- Open the company pageRead the team on pages such as Blum, where 3 co-founders sit side by side.
- Check the seatResearch confirmed 1 of 5 top titles it checked, so read the person's own bio first.
- Send 1 note1,009 of the 1,298 flagged founders have an X handle on file.
Related reading on NAUT: How to find a crypto founder email: 5 methods, 10 tested and Find crypto founder LinkedIn pages: 3 steps, 3,815 on file.
Can you pull this data through the NAUT API?
Yes: GET https://api.naut.so/v1/people?q=founder&limit=100 with the header Authorization: Bearer $NAUT_KEY returns founder-titled people with their job title, X handle, company and the flags hasEmail, hasTelegram and hasLinkedin, at 5 credits a call. To cut by sector first, GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects?sector=DeFi&token=pre lists pre-token DeFi projects, and GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/{slug} returns each 1 with its team; the docs are at naut.so/docs/api and plans at naut.so/pricing. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so start a 7-day trial to reveal them.
Crypto founders list FAQ
Where can I get a list of crypto founders?
NAUT tracks 1,298 flagged founders at 752 live crypto project companies, counted on 12 November 2026, with 1,009 X handles and 687 LinkedIn URLs among them. A title search on founder, CEO and chief executive widens it to 4,267 people at 2,709 project companies.
Where can I find crypto founders and their contact channels on NAUT?
On NAUT's person and company pages, or through GET https://api.naut.so/v1/people?q=founder: of NAUT's 4,267 founder and CEO contacts read on 12 November 2026, 3,099 carry an X handle, 2,930 LinkedIn, 2,065 Telegram and 253 email. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so start a 7-day trial.
Which sector has the most crypto founders on NAUT?
DeFi, with 1,114 founder and CEO contacts at 628 project companies on 12 November 2026, ahead of Infrastructure at 947 people and AI at 618.
How current are the titles on a crypto founders list?
Check each one. On 12 November 2026 research put 5 top rows of NAUT's founder and CEO title list to the company's own site and confirmed 1, Yi He of Binance, so read the person's own bio before outreach.