Brian Armstrong lacks the swagger of Jeff Bezos, the audacity of Mark Zuckerberg, or Elon Musk’s cult of character. Nonetheless, it’s grow to be away from late that the Coinbase CEO possesses the identical imaginative and prescient and management qualities which have made these different founders tech trade legends. The time has come to offer the 42-year-old Armstrong his due.
I not too long ago sat down with the Coinbase CEO at a Goldman Sachs occasion north of San Francisco. Not like many executives, Armstrong doesn’t relish media interviews, however he lights up when given the chance to debate massive concepts in crypto and expertise. This was the case after I requested him concerning the fast-evolving world of wallets—which Armstrong believes will supplant net browsers—and the potential for crypto-based id verification, which he thinks is coming quickly.
Armstrong has been proper about calls like this previously. Means again in 2016, he shared a “master plan” that envisioned blockchain evolving right into a multi-pronged trade that touched a whole lot of tens of millions of individuals. It appeared fanciful on the time, and much more so when Crypto Winter set in and Bitcoin nose-dived to $2,000 the following yr. At the moment, that far-flung prediction has come true. This potential of Armstrong to see the place crypto goes, and to place his firm accordingly, is a giant cause why Coinbase has been the dominant firm in U.S. crypto for almost 15 years.
That is mirrored in Coinbase’s third-quarter earnings report, launched on Thursday, which reveals how the corporate has diversified past buying and selling income, and is making actual cash on providers like stablecoins, staking, and custody. Equally spectacular is that Coinbase retains posting hefty income quarter after quarter.
A giant cause for that is that Armstrong, like different profitable CEOs, found out tips on how to put in place a talented govt workforce. Not like Coinbase’s early days, which have been riven by drama and in-fighting, the corporate is right now outlined by stability. That’s thanks in massive half to the regular hand of CFO Alesia Haas, and to President and COO Emilie Choi, whose prowess at M&A has made Coinbase a vital participant in each sector of crypto. The corporate’s latest acquisition of spinoff store Deribit, and its perpetual futures money machine, is trying particularly shrewd.
Like different visionary CEOs, Armstrong has been prepared to embrace unpopular and contrarian stances. These embody rejecting the “blockchain not Bitcoin” vogue through the crypto winter of 2015, and telling the New York Occasions to take a hike when the paper branded Coinbase as racist for refusing to bow to the excesses of wokeness.
Armstrong has additionally made some outsize errors. In 2022, he squandered assets on a collection of Hollywood vainness tasks at a time when he ought to have been getting ready Coinbase to journey out an trade downturn. Extra not too long ago, a disastrous resolution to outsource service operations to India led to a pricey hack. However even one of the best CEOs don’t bat a thousand—ask Zuckerberg concerning the metaverse or Musk concerning the Tesla 3 roll-out. And like these leaders, Armstrong has proven he’s capable of study from his errors.
Within the coming yr, his CEO abilities can be examined anew. Coinbase’s most formidable abroad rivals, Binance and Tether, are getting set to ramp up U.S. operations, and the corporate should present it could possibly keep away from the paperwork and company bloat that befalls many incumbents. However primarily based on historical past, it could be silly to underestimate Armstrong.
DECENTRALIZED NEWS
Mastercard eyes a stablecoin startup: Earlier this month, the bank card large misplaced out to Coinbase in its bid to amass stablecoin startup BVNK. Now, it’s pursuing one other stablecoin firm: Chicago-based Zerohash. The potential worth—between $1.5 and $2 billion—suggests a component of FOMO. (Fortune)
JPM hearts blockchain: America’s greatest financial institution has put a non-public fairness fund on its in-house Kinexys Fund Move chain. The providing is offered solely to rich purchasers, however seems to be a part of a broader tokenization push geared toward leveraging blockchain’s intrinsic pace and transparency with a view to promote unique belongings to retail. (WSJ)
Battle combat combat: That’s the identify of the company automobile that oversees President Trump’s memecoin. It’s now in talks to amass Republic, a blockchain-based crowd-funding platform, with a view to creating $TRUMP a part of its operations for charges and capital-raising. (Bloomberg)
CZ vs. Liz Warren: The Binance founder threatened to file a defamation go well with over feedback by the Democratic senator that he “pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge.” Warren’s camp shot again that he has no case as a result of the assertion is true and, in any occasion, is just not actionable. (The Block)
Crypto ETFs Half II: Current approvals by the SEC imply traders can now purchase Solana, Litecoin and Hedera in an ETF wrapper. The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) notched round $50 million in each day buying and selling quantity however the different two flopped. (Fortune)
MAIN CHARACTER OF THE WEEK
Blockworks cofounder Jason Yanowitz defends resolution to shut newsroom.
@JasonYanowitz
MEME O’ THE MOMENT
@Crypto_McKenna
Brian Armstrong set off chatter on Crypto Twitter when he used the top of Coinbase’s earnings name to utter a collection of phrases that appeared in “will he say it?” bets on prediction markets. Some fretted concerning the moral implications, however others, seeing the absurdity in the entire thing, simply discovered it humorous.
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