by Roger Stone
While Armstrong is neither a renowned investor nor a crypto creator, he is responsible for creating the platform that is used by many investors to trade and access popular virtual currencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, and Litecoin.
Indeed, Brian Armstrong is the mastermind behind Coinbase, one of the most popular crypto exchanges in the US. His venture has allowed him to become one of the most popular entrepreneurs around the world, especially within the under-40 age category. As a result, he has made his presence felt throughout the entrepreneurship and crypto worlds.
Brian Armstrong – Background:
Brian Armstrong can be categorised as a quintessential founder of technology. Having grown up in San Jose, California, Armstrong learned coding and website designing while in high school. During this time, he also received some of his very first paid gigs.
Armstrong then went on to study economics and computer science at Rice University. While still in school, he founded UniversityTutor.com. This website offered an online platform for college tutors to look for and teach students. Armstrong was the CEO of UniversityTutor until 2012, after which he decided to leave and went on to establish Coinbase.
The Dive Into the Crypto World:
After Armstrong left UniversityTutor in 2012, he, along with Fred Ehrsam (the co-founder of Coinbase) started working on creating a Bitcoin wallet – a secure space that crypto traders and investors could use to store their digital coins. It did not take long for the Armstrong-Ehrsam duo to realise that people wanted more than just a secure storage space for their currencies. They wanted an equally safe platform for conducting Bitcoin transactions. This realisation compelled the two young founders to upgrade Coinbase to a crypto exchange, thereby attracting greater investor interest and capital.
Armstrong’s Strong Arm in the Crypto World:
Any coins that are displayed on Coinbase will attract greater interest from a casual crypto investor, which means that Armstrong holds a great deal of power and influence across the crypto world. The decision to include coins is one that is made after a lot of thought and insight, but it can also attract a lot of ire should Coinbase decide to not facilitate the ever-growing virtual currency space.
Somewhere in the middle of 2018, Ripple Labs decided to make a publicised push in order to land its coin on the Coinbase exchange. Coinbase holds the view that it will only permit coins that are genuinely viewed as cryptos – instead of securities – by the traders and investors. Since Ripple possesses many different kinds of coins, some people argue that it is more like a company offering its shares in the form of cryptos rather than a distinct virtual currency. This notion was rejected by Ripple’s leaders, who even allegedly attempted to pay a $1 million fee to Coinbase in exchange for adding its coin on its exchange (the rumour has been vehemently denied by the Ripple Foundation).
However, the matter came to a close during August 2018, when Coinbase announced that it was adding 37 new coins to the exchange, including Ripple’s XRP. However, more than three years later, XRP is yet to become a part of the Coinbase exchange – yet another indication of Armstrong’s influence and decision-making powers.
Final Word:
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