CoinMarketCap launches ‘Oscars of Crypto’ to celebrate industry accomplishments CoinMarketCap launches ‘Oscars of Crypto’ to celebrate industry accomplishments
The awards are scheduled to take place between Feb. 21 and March 6.
2 min read
Updated: Feb. 23, 2024 at 7:21 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
CoinMarketCap has announced the launch of the inaugural CMC Crypto Awards to recognize the accomplishments of networks, people, and technology in the crypto industry.
The awards are scheduled to take place between Feb. 21 and March 6.
The selection of winners will rely on CoinMarketCap data, insights from expert panels, and community votes, with the winners announced on the last day of the event.
CoinMarketCap CEO Rush Luton said:
“Our intention is for the CMC Crypto Awards to become the most recognized annual celebration of Crypto and Web3. Think of it as the ‘Oscars Of Crypto’, an entertaining way to bring the whole industry together and celebrate the people and projects that are driving the industry forward.โ
CoinMarketCap plans to award excellence across eight distinct categories within the crypto sphere.
The nominees
The first award is the coveted title of Crypto of the Year, which aims to recognize groundbreaking innovation and enduring impact on the industry. The nominees areย Ripple, Solana, Chainlink, Ethereum, and Toncoin.
In the Crypto Leader of the Year category, CoinMarketCap is looking to honor visionaries who combat fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), propelling technological advancements, adoption, and regulatory progress worldwide.
Nominees include formerย Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Messari CEO Ryan Selkis, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) CEO Julia Leung.
The Meme Coin of the Year category aims to recognize humor and community engagement in the industry, the nominees include Pepe, Milady, Memecoin, Bonk, and Ordinals.
The Most Innovative DeFi award will honor protocols that have contributed uniquely to the evolving landscape. The nominated projects are Uniswap, Unibot, EigenLayer, MakerDAO, and Friend.Tech.
The Most Innovative L1, L2, Cross-Chain Project award will be given to networks that have demonstrated considerable scalability, security, and interoperability advancements. The nominees include Arbitrum, Aptos, Axelar, ZKSync, and Celestia.
CoinMarketCap also wants to acknowledge the significant contributions of social media influencers for enriching the crypto discourse and advancing the community. Nominees include Lookonchain, ZachXBT, CryptosRUs, Wendy O, and The DeFi Edge.
Lastly, the Bridge Builder of the Year category aims to celebrate established brands that have embraced Web3 to enhance customer value.
Nominees for this award include BlackRock for championing a Bitcoin ETF, PayPal for its PYUSD stablecoin, Reddit for gamified avatars simplifying Web3 access, Starbucks for Web3 loyalty programs, and Nike for blending fashion, sport, gaming, and Web3 through strategic partnerships.
Mentioned in this article
Bitcoin 
Ethereum 
XRP 
Solana 
Chainlink 
Bonk 
Pepe 
Arbitrum 
Aptos 
Celestia 
Maker 
BlackRock 
Ripple 
Binance 
Coinbase 
PayPal 
Reddit 
CoinMarketCap 
Uniswap 
Vitalik Buterin 
Changpeng Zhao 
Ryan Selkis 
Brian Armstrong 
ZachXBT Posted In: Culture
Author 
Oluwapelumi Adejumo
Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.
Editor Editor 
Assad Jafri
AJ, a passionate journalist since Yemen's 2011 Arab Spring, has honed his skills worldwide for over a decade. Specializing in financial journalism, he now focuses on crypto reporting.
In this article
Bitcoin, a decentralized currency that defies the sway of central banks or administrators, transacts electronically, circumventing intermediaries via a peer-to-peer network.
Ethereum
$3,122.01
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
XRP
$0.52204
Theย XRP Ledgerย is a decentralized cryptographic ledger powered by a network of peer-to-peer servers.
Solana
$142.490
Solana is a high-performance blockchain platform that utilizes a unique consensus algorithm called “Proof of History” to achieve fast transaction speeds and low fees.
Chainlink
$14.7469
Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that connects smart contracts on the blockchain to real-world data.
Bonk
$0.00003
Bonk is the first Solana dog coin for the people, by the people with 50% of the total supply airdropped to the Solana community.
Arbitrum
$1.07212
Arbitrum is a type of technology known as an optimistic rollup.
Aptos
$8.88482
Aptos is an FTX-backed layer-1 blockchain which was developed by ex-Meta employees.
Celestia
$10.4694
Celestia (TIA) is the first modular blockchain network that enables anyone to deploy their own blockchain with minimal overhead easily.
Maker
$2,865.83
Maker is a decentralized autonomous organization on the Ethereum blockchain seeking to minimize the price volatility of its own stable token โ the Dai โ against the IMFโs international currency basket SDR.
BlackRock
BlackRock, synonymous with global asset management, is an American multinational investment management corporation based in New York City.
Ripple
Ripple is a US-based technology company which develops the Ripple payment protocol and exchange network using XRP, the digital asset native to the XRP Ledger.
Binance
Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange that provides a platform for trading more than 100 cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase
Coinbase is a digital currency exchange and wallet service that allows individuals to buy, sell, and store digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
PayPal
PayPal is an American multinational financial technology firm that operates an online payment system in most countries that permits online money transfers and serves as an electronic replacement for conventional paper methods like checks and money orders.
Reddit is a social news aggregation, conversation, and content-rating website based in the United States.
CoinMarketCap provides financial metrics and graphs for all cryptocurrencies found on coinmarketcap.com.
Designed with simplicity in mind, the Uniswap protocol provides an interface for seamless exchange of ERC20 tokens on Ethereum.
Vitalik Buterin stands as the pioneering force behind Ethereum, a transformative community-driven platform that fuels the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and underpins a myriad of decentralized applications.
Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as “CZ,” is a notable figure in the cryptocurrency world, primarily for founding and leading Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.
Ryan Selkis is the founder and CEO of Messari, a reliable data and market intelligence for crypto investors.
Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, stands at the forefront of the digital currency revolution.
ZachXBT is an independent on-chain sleuth who is popular on revealing bad actors in the crypto space.
