When Shift Happens Podcast

E148: Coinbase Founder: How I Built The Largest Crypto Exchange to $100 Billion in 9 years

30 snips
Nov 20, 2025
Brian Armstrong, Co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, shares his journey from founding a startup during Bitcoin's infancy to leading a $100 billion company. He discusses the challenges of navigating regulators and market crashes, his introverted nature, and the importance of economic freedom through crypto. Armstrong also reflects on personal insecurities, founder dynamics, and minimizing burnout. He envisions a future with one billion users benefiting from sound money and financial services, emphasizing the transformational power of action over analysis.
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INSIGHT

Inflation Is A Regressive Wealth Tax

  • Inflation functions as a regressive tax that hurts the poorest people by stealing their wealth through money printing.
  • Bitcoin and crypto offer individuals an alternative store of value and a check on deficit spending.
ADVICE

Decide By Who Cares Most

  • Resolve disagreements by asking how much each person cares and defaulting to the person who cares more.
  • If it fails, let the decision-maker own the outcome and fix it if it breaks.
ANECDOTE

Co-Founder Departure Sparked A New Founding Moment

  • When co-founder Fred left, Brian felt abandoned and nervous announcing it to the company, with his voice cracking on stage.
  • Fred timed his departure to avoid harming Coinbase and helped trigger a new founding moment to build an executive team.
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