Who’s behind Coinbase – one of crypto’s most popular exchanges?

Whether you’re just getting started in crypto investing or have been mining Bitcoin since 2010, it’s likely that you’ve heard of Coinbase. The easy-to-use exchange has become the go-to app for novices around the world to begin their new investing lifestyle.

Currently headquartered in San Francisco, the company was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. Since then, the Coinbase team has grown to serve over 10 million users and has exchanged more than $50 billion worth of digital currency.

Even though Coinbase is quickly becoming a household name, you may not know too much about the team responsible for its success. Here’s a quick look at just a few of the people behind the scenes of this billion dollar company

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong is a co-founder and leads the Coinbase team as CEO. At 34 (almost 35) years old, Armstrong has an impressive resume.

Before founding Coinbase, he worked at Airbnb, Deloitte, and IBM in a variety of positions from software engineer to enterprise risk management consultant. However, he spent the majority of his career running University Tutor, a free online marketplace where you can find tutors in your area.

Interesting Fact: Armstrong spent a year after college living in Buenos Aires and is an avid proponent of self-employment – he even wrote a book about it.

Fred Ehrsam

Fred Ehrsam is the other half of the founding team but has recently left Coinbase to pursue other ventures. He still plans on remaining involved, though, as a board member.

Ehrsam reached out to Armstrong after seeing a Reddit post that Armstrong had written describing the initial ideas for Coinbase. The two met, and the rest is history.

Ehrsam graduated from Duke University with a dual degree in Economics and Computer Science – an unsurprising combo given his career history.

Interesting Fact: Ehrsam has had his work published in the Duke Journal of Economics

Charlie Lee [Ex-Coinbase]

Charlie Lee may be the most notable person from the Coinbase team. Although he’s not involved with the company anymore, he worked there for 4 years and was the Director of Engineering for the last 2.

Lee’s most famously known as the creator of Litecoin, a crypto commonly dubbed as the “silver” to Bitcoin’s “gold”.

He’s also an active voice on Twitter and has weighed in on several controversial blockchain topics like Bitcoin’s block size and Tron’s recent explosion in market cap.

Interesting Fact: Lee recently sold and donated his entire balance of Litecoin in order to remove any possible conflict of interest with his tweets.

Kathryn Haun

Last May, Kathryn Haun joined the Coinbase Board of Directors.

As the first-ever Digital Currency coordinator for the U.S. Department of Justice, she led investigations of the Mt. Gox hack as well as corruption involving Silk Road.

Haun’s role helps to solidify Coinbase’s commitment to fully following regulatory practices and legitimizing financial uses of blockchain technology.

Interesting Fact: Haun also teaches Stanford’s first-ever course on Digital Currency and Cybercrime.

Final Thoughts

These are only a few people from the Coinbase team who’ve been instrumental in getting Coinbase to where it is today. If it’s true that it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a worldwide community to build a company of this scale.

With the continued hard work of leaders like these at the helm, it’s safe to assume that Coinbase will continue to succeed for years to come.

Charlie Lee and Kathryn Haun will both be speaking at Blockchain Connect on January 26th in San Francisco, CA.

If you’re interested in learning more about these fascinating people, be sure to grab a ticket here. And as a gift from us, use the promo code “coincentral” to receive 30% off your ticket.