Who Started Coinbase?

Who Started Coinbase?

If you have ever wondered, "Who started Coinbase?", you are not alone. There are three major contenders - Brian Armstrong, Fred Ehrsam, and Satoshi Nakamoto. But how did they come up with the idea for a cryptocurrency exchange? Read on to find out! Hopefully, by the time you are done reading this article, you will have a better understanding of the origins of this industry-leading service.

Brian Armstrong

As the founder and CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong has had an impact on the cryptocurrency world. Among his other accomplishments are being recognized in 40 under 40 lists and having a prominent presence on the media. He has promoted the adoption of Bitcoin and teaches about the cryptocurrency at workshops, seminars, and conferences. With the success of his business, Brian has earned the title of "Unicorn."

The 30-year-old entrepreneur was born on January 25, 1983 in San Jose, California. He developed an interest in computers and technology, while he was still in high school, earning him odd looks from his peers. Despite this, he found his first paying job while still a student, designing websites for a small business in San Jose. Brian worked out of his neighbor's garage at the time. Today, the company is a billion-dollar venture.

While working in the field of economics, Armstrong noticed the unfairness of the world's financial system. While studying in Buenos Aires, Armstrong became fascinated by the gnawing hyperinflation, which ravaged the lives of the poorest people. As a result, he decided to launch his first exchange. The business has grown quickly, and it is currently a billion-dollar company with 35 million users in over 100 countries.

The founder of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, broke a common rule when it came to finding a cofounder. He put up a wanted ad on Hacker News. This method defied conventional wisdom, as experts usually recommend teaming up with someone who already knows the company's founder. Many experts say that a cofounder relationship should be like a marriage and should be cultivated over time. Armstrong and Ehrsam ended up getting married in a shotgun wedding, and their relationship has remained strong.

After a few years of being a popular place to invest in crypto, Coinbase soon became known as a spotlessly clean and well-lit site to invest in the cryptocurrencies. However, many critics claimed that Coinbase's focus on security came at the expense of customer service. However, Armstrong recently cracked down on political speech within the company and started a "cleaner" environment. Even more strikingly, Armstrong clamped down on the 'insanity' of the industry.

In 2014, Coinbase was valued at $400 million. Today, it is almost twice that amount. Coinbase's growth has been satisfactory, and Armstrong is now the CEO of one of the largest publicly traded cryptocurrency companies. The company was the most downloaded app in the Apple store as of 2017.

In addition to the investors, Coinbase has also attracted notable venture capitalists and investors. The firm has secured a $5 million investment from Union Square Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz. In December 2013, Coinbase became the first Bitcoin exchange to receive direct investment from a major financial institution, the New York Stock Exchange. The company raised a total of $1.6 billion from institutional investors. This makes Coinbase a highly valuable company.

Fred Ehrsam

Fred Ehrsam co-founded digital asset broker Coinbase in 2012, which handles exchanges of digital assets for fiat currency in more than twenty countries. He currently serves as a board director at Coinbase. Ehrsam began his career as an editor at *The Coinbase Blog and has been contributing to Medium since 2016. Before starting his business, Ehrsam earned a B.S. in computer science and economics from Duke University, where he spent his summer researching nanostructures as an Undergraduate Research Fellow. Following that, he spent two years working as a trader at Goldman Sachs, before starting his own company...

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