Brian Armstrong – journey from software engineer to cryptocurrency billionaire

Brian Armstrong is the CEO of Coinbase, one of the largest and most popular Bitcoin exchanges in the world. Before founding the Coinbase empire, he was also a software engineer at Airbnb.

Brian Armstrong and the journey to becoming a cryptocurrency billionaire

Brian Armstrong was born on January 25, 1983. In 2005, he graduated with a BA in Economics and Computer Science from Rice University, Texas. A year later, Armstrong studied for a Master’s degree in Computer Science. When he was still in the lecture hall, Armstrong also opened a tutoring service for other students. After graduating, he went to Argentina and worked at an education company.

In 2003, while studying at Rice University, Brian Armstrong started a business with a website-based connection project to help tutors provide teaching services and create opportunities for parents and students looking for a tutor in learning. While at Rice, Brian Armstrong had a 4-month internship at IBM computer corporation. After graduating, he worked for Deloitte as a Corporate Risk Management Consultant.

In the 2010s, Brian Armstrong was exposed to the virtual currency Bitcoin. Realized the great potential and opportunities of the virtual currency market, and the startups of this type at that time were relatively few.

Armstrong has been with Airbnb for over a year. Shortly after leaving his job in June 2012, Armstrong teamed up with Fred Ehrsam, a former forex trader at multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs, to start Coinbase.

With the idea of ​​​​turning Coinbase into an exchange – where people can buy, sell and exchange virtual currencies like bitcoin or Ethereum, Brian and Fred decided to call for investment in Y Combinator, a program that supports startup platforms.

Coinbase CEO’s Journey to Turn Virtual Currency into USD

At that time, it was almost impossible to buy and sell virtual currency every day. But Coinbase can still grow and get capital. In 2013, Coinbase received a $5 million investment from the USV fund. By the end of 2013, this virtual currency exchange received 25 million USD from the USC alliance with Ribbit Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.

In particular, in May 2015, Coinbase became the first virtual currency exchange for receiving investment money from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and a few other investors. Total mobilized capital is up to 75 million USD. Between 2016 and 2017, Coinbase increased the number of trading accounts from 4.7 million to 13.3 million and now 56 million in 100 countries.

In December 2018, at 34, Brian Armstrong officially signed The Giving Pledge, opened by billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in 2010. Those who sign the pledge are billionaires or are about to be billionaires but are generous, and want to give away most of his fortune to charity.

“Once a person achieves a certain amount of wealth, they have little to do but spend more on themselves. Their ambitions start to look outward. I have always admired founders, leaders who have an ambition is to improve the world instead of having a goal related to personal money.”

Brian Armstrong writes in a blog post on the Giving Pledge website.

Recently when the crypto market was in a downturn, Coinbase reportedly lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and there were concerns about bankruptcy. However, in the face of negative news, the Coinbase CEO remains very optimistic about the development of cryptocurrency.

Armstrong assured users that the company was “not at risk of bankruptcy” and that client funds remained safe. However, he said that if the company goes bankrupt, it is “unlikely” that the court will decide to consider consumer property that is part of its proceedings “even if it harms the customer.”

Armstrong also explained that its primary and custodial clients have strong legal protections in their terms of service. Furthermore, these provisions protect assets even in the event of bankruptcy. He also noted that their team is also working on updating their terms to apply the same protections to retail users.

DISCLAIMER: The Information on this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. We encourage you to do your own research before investing.

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