44. Kris Marszalek

Kris Marszalek started the payments company Monaco in 2016 so that regular people could have more control over their money and information. In 2018, the company changed its name to Crypto.com to better reflect its primary goal, which is to speed up the spread of cryptocurrency around the world. It now offers crypto debit cards, centralized and decentralized exchange services, and more.

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Marszalek says he has been building companies his whole life. Before getting into crypto, he started several companies, including the powerful e-commerce platform Beecrazy, which he sold to iBuy Group Limited in 2013. Marszalek was the CEO of Ensogo, an online discount store in Southeast Asia, before he started Crypto.com.

Crypto.com started gaining mainstream attention in 2020 after global promotional campaigns and after Marszalek managed to acquire licenses for its crypto-backed debit cards to operate in several different countries, including key markets like Canada and Australia.

DeFi Swap, a decentralized exchange, was also added to Crypto.com’s services to include decentralized finance. At the end of 2020, Crypto.com had achieved 5 million users globally.

As part of the agreement with Formula 1, Crypto.com gets brand presence around F1 events, including the new Sprint qualifying format used in some races to determine the starting positions of the cars. Crypto.com also receive trackside slots at F1 races for the remainder of the season.

The company also introduced a new award at F1′s Belgian Grand Prix in August 2021 and became its NFT partner. The Crypto.com agreement took effect on July 17, a day before the 2021 British Grand Prix at the Silverstone Circuit in England.

Promoters of the Miami Grand Prix have announced a new nine-year deal with the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency platform, with the race to be officially called the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix, which started in 2022.

Kris Marszalek recently commented:

We look forward to many years of innovating together. We’re also excited to partner with F1 in developing exclusive NFTs, connecting fans to the sport in new and innovative ways.

Recently Kris announced that they would reduce their global workforce by approximately 20%.