Which protocols made Fortune's inaugural Crypto
Published 6/12/2026, 9:05:30 AM
Answer
Fortune has not published an inaugural "Crypto 100" ranking. The research confirms that Fortune's inaugural crypto ranking was the Crypto 40 in 2023 — a 40-entry list across 8 categories. The Crypto 100 format (100 entries across 10 categories) only launched with the 2026 edition.
Fortune Crypto 40 (2023 — Inaugural Ranking)
The 2023 inaugural edition contained 40 entries across 8 categories (5 per category):
| Category | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CeFi | Coinbase | Binance | Kraken | Galaxy Digital | Circle |
| TradFi | PayPal | Robinhood | JPMorgan Chase | Fidelity | Visa |
| VC | Polychain Capital | Animoca Brands | Andreessen Horowitz | Pantera Capital | Blockchain Capital |
| NFTs | OpenSea | Yuga Labs | Sky Mavis | Art Blocks | RTFKT (Nike) |
| Data | Chainalysis | Coin Metrics | The Graph | Dune | Messari |
| Infrastructure | Ledger | Genesis Digital Assets | Bitmain | Alchemy | Moonpay |
| DeFi | Uniswap Labs | Lido | MakerDAO | Aave | Curve |
| Protocols (L1/L2) | Ethereum Foundation | Bitcoin | Polygon Labs | Solana Foundation | Offchain Labs (Arbitrum) |
[Source: https://fortune.com/ranking/crypto/2023/]
Fortune Crypto 100 (2026 — First 100-Entry Edition)
If you meant the larger 100-entry ranking, the 2026 edition includes 100 companies across 10 categories (10 per category). The DeFi protocols in that edition are:
| Rank | Protocol |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hyperliquid |
| 2 | Aave |
| 3 | Lido |
| 4 | Uniswap |
| 5 | Eigen |
| 6 | PancakeSwap |
| 7 | Morpho |
| 8 | Meteora |
| 9 | Kamino |
| 10 | Raydium |
[Source: https://fortune.com/ranking/crypto/2026/]
Key Distinction
| Edition | Year | Entries | Categories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crypto 40 (inaugural) | 2023 | 40 | 8 |
| Crypto 100 (first 100-entry edition) | 2026 | 100 | 10 |
There is no "inaugural Crypto 100" — the Crypto 100 format began in 2026. The 2023 Crypto 40 was Fortune's first crypto ranking.