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Coinbase

also referred to as: coinbase global

includes Coinbase Ventures, Coinbase Wallet, Coinbase Cloud, Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Exchange, Coinbase Executive Team

70 statements across 33 episodes · 39 bullish · 10 bearish · 29 people on the record · first statement Dec 12, 2016 by Alexis Ohanian · said 400 times in 104 episodes since 2016 · across every show →

Mentions by year, the whole family

brought up most by Harry Stebbings (190), Emilie Choi (51), Brian Armstrong (35), Nick Tomaino (13), Linda Xie (8), Vlad Tenev (5), Nick Shalek (5), Kyle Samani (5)

tap a year for its mentions
005081001520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions
081520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
0047.581520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 34 mentions in 9 episodes 4 per episode
2025 28 mentions in 14 episodes 2 per episode
2024 44 mentions in 14 episodes 3 per episode
2023 43 mentions in 10 episodes 4 per episode
2022 65 mentions in 12 episodes 5 per episode
2021 90 mentions in 12 episodes 8 per episode
2020 10 mentions in 6 episodes 2 per episode
2019 15 mentions in 9 episodes 2 per episode
2018 21 mentions in 4 episodes 5 per episode
2017 45 mentions in 12 episodes 4 per episode
2016 5 mentions in 2 episodes 3 per episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Coinbase, oldest first

Dec 12, 2016 positive
Disclosure
Ohanian: Initialized Capital invested in Coinbase's seed funding round
“There's a great Gary Tan story about Coinbase where we had done their seed round”
Alexis Ohanian Dec 12, 2016 ▶ 18:05 20VC: Reddit's Alexis Ohanian on How It All Started With Paul Graham @ YC, The Biggest Surprises About Making The Move Into VC & Why Alexis Believes All The Best Investors Have Operating Experience
Aug 4, 2017 positive
Disclosure
Armstrong: Coinbase remains neutral and supports all safe digital assets
“At Coinbase, we're not really pro one digital currency or another. We're in a situation where we're actually looking to support all digital currencies that people want to trade that are safe with some reasonable threshold.”
Brian Armstrong Aug 4, 2017 ▶ 6:16 20VC: Coinbase's Brian Armstrong on The Rise & Short Term Correction in ICOs, The Regulatory Framework Required For Blockchain To Succeed & How The Rise of Blockchain Disrupts The VC Industry
Aug 4, 2017 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Armstrong: ICOs face short-term correction before broad long-term adoption
“So I think the long-term trend for ICOs is very positive, or token sales. I think that's a new thing that's been invented, and it will probably get a lot of adoption. I think in the short term, we'll probably see a correction on it, if I had to guess.”
Brian Armstrong Aug 4, 2017 ▶ 11:43 20VC: Coinbase's Brian Armstrong on The Rise & Short Term Correction in ICOs, The Regulatory Framework Required For Blockchain To Succeed & How The Rise of Blockchain Disrupts The VC Industry
Dec 11, 2017 neutral
Assertion Supported
Olaf Carlson-Wee was the first employee at Coinbase
“And prior to founding Polychain, Olaf was the first employee at Coinbase, serving as their head of risk and as product manager.”
Harry Stebbings Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 0:42 20VC: Inside The World's Leading Crypto Fund, The Future Exit Environment for Crypto Assets & The Beauty Of Benevolent Dictatorship with Olaf Carlson-Wee, Founder @ Polychain Capital
May 14, 2018 bullish
Disclosure
Boris Wertz: Version One invested in Coinbase's Series D funding round
“So he invested in Coinbase late last year. And you know, as you know, this was a series D, so it's a little bit later than we usually invest in, but we really thought that Coinbase can be one of these iconic companies of the crypto ages, and you know, we're in…”
Boris Wertz May 14, 2018 ▶ 21:30 20VC: Why Crypto Is The Biggest Disruptor To Hit VC In A Decade, The State of Crypto Today & Why Investing In Decentralized Platforms Requires A New Mental Model with Boris Wertz, Founding Partner @ Version One Ventures
Oct 22, 2018
Insight
Xie: Crypto platforms must resist listing distracting hype assets during market cycles
“These cycles really come and go, and ultimately you want to build something that lasts throughout this entire period. So by not getting super distracted by things that, you know, if you review and doesn't seem like something that's going to actually stay aroun…”
Linda Xie Oct 22, 2018 ▶ 6:35 20VC: Scalar Capital's Linda Xjie on Who Will Win The Smart Contract War, The Future of Exchanges: Centralised or Decentralised & The Pros and Cons of Differing Privacy Coins
May 31, 2019 positive
Assertion Supported
Taggar: Gary Tan Saved Instacart and Wired Money to Coinbase
“I think it was he who accepted Instacart into Y Combinator after the deadline had passed for applications, and similarly with Coinbase early on, I think this is public, but there was a moment where they were having a bit of a liquidity crunch, and Gary just wi…”
Kulveer Taggar May 31, 2019 ▶ 11:20 20VC: Why You Must Have A Customer Acquisition Strategy From Day 1, How To Test and Validate Ideas At Speed & Why You Should Speak To Investors Before Starting Work On Your Idea with Kulveer Taggar, Founder @ CEO @ Zeus Living
Mar 9, 2020
Assertion Supported
Matt Mochary's coaching client list includes partners at Benchmark, Sequoia, and Kleiner
“On the VC side, Matt has worked with the likes of Peter Fenton at Benchmark, Several Sequoia partners, Hemond at GC, and Mamoon at Kleiner, to name a few. As for founders, Matt's worked with the founders of Brex, Coinbase, Plaid, Reddit, Flexport, and many mor…”
Harry Stebbings Mar 9, 2020 ▶ 0:24 20VC: Matt Mochary, Coach To Silicon Valley's Leading VCs & Founders on How To Deal with Imposter Syndrome and Self-Doubt, How To Manage Fear and Anger & Why Board Seats Are The Death of Investors
Jun 22, 2020 positive
Assertion Supported
Wilkinson: MetaLab designed Slack and worked with Shopify, Coinbase, and Pinterest
“Also worked with a lot of startups really early on, Shopify, Tumblr, Coinbase, Pinterest. We designed Slack.”
Andrew Wilkinson Jun 22, 2020 ▶ 5:33 20VC: Andrew Wilkinson on Building The Berkshire Hathway of Tech, Sustainable vs Unsustainable Growth and The Relationship Between Money and Freedom
Nov 6, 2020 negative
Opinion
Weinberg: It is naive for modern companies to claim complete societal neutrality
“To me, I think it's a little naive to think that a company can just say, we stand for absolutely nothing but our business. And maybe that was true 5060 years ago, but I just don't believe that that's true today.”
Zach Weinberg Nov 6, 2020 ▶ 9:09 20VC: Zach Weinberg on Whether A Company is a Democracy, The Importance of Ownership, The Rise of Pre-Emptive Rounds, Multi-Stage Funds Entering Seed and How he Approaches Both Risk and Personal Capital Allocation
Jul 19, 2021
Disclosure
a16z made up to four follow-on investments in Stripe and TripActions
“We've invested multiple times in many of our companies. So Coinbase, we invested three times. Roblox, twice. Databricks, three times. Stripe, four times. TripActions, four times.”
David George Jul 19, 2021 ▶ 13:46 20VC: a16z's David George on Leading a16z's Growth Fund Today, The Biggest Misconceptions of Growth Investing, How a16z Think Through Portfolio Construction, Investment Decision-Making and Scenario Planning & How The Entrance of New Players Has Changed Th
Jul 26, 2021 positive
Disclosure
Shalek: Ribbit Capital made early non-consensus bets on Bitcoin and Coinbase
“Like how it felt when we first invested in Bitcoin and Coinbase. And most people just had no idea what we're talking about.”
Nick Shalek Jul 26, 2021 ▶ 14:53 20VC: Ribbit Capital's Nick Shalek on How To Think Through Ownership and Price Sensitivity, When More Money and Pre-Emptive Rounds are Good vs Bad & Investing Lessons from Yale's David Swensen
Aug 23, 2021 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Choi: Coinbase caps candidate interview panels at five people
“We have a panel of people. We generally try to keep that panel no more than five people who actually interview the candidate.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 13:10 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Insight
Choi: Clear and concise communication is the key to succeeding at Coinbase
“The hallmark of successful people at Coinbase is they are excellent presenters. They are excellent communicators. They are pithy. They're strong. They get their message across.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 15:23 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 negative
Disclosure
Job Candidates Inspired by IBM Are Not a Fit for Coinbase
“I will often ask people that I'm interviewing, what other companies would you interview at? What other companies are you inspired by? Now, no offense, but if they say something like IBM, which I've definitely had, they're not going to be a fit for Coinbase. If…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 37:08 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Insight
Choi: Showing vulnerability in key moments creates deeper employee connections
“What I learned in that moment was that in these select moments where something really matters to You kind of show yourself to be vulnerable. You create so much connection with people.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 10:03 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Insight
Choi: Great corporate development executives build lifelong relationships with founders
“I want to know that founders freaking love you, and that they would just do anything for you, and that they want to work with you. The way that I have seen this manifest in my own career is that a lot of the entrepreneurs we acquired at Companies that I've bee…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 17:10 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021
Disclosure
Choi writes weekly 'top of mind' emails to all Coinbase employees
“And I write a top of mind every Friday to the whole company.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 8:04 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Assertion Contradicted
Coinbase Limits All Job Interview Blocks to 30 Minutes Maximum
“There is no interview longer than 30 minutes.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 13:08 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Insight
Choi: COO Role Is Clearing Operational Environment for Product to Ship Fast
“COO to me means I am here to create the absolute best Environment for product and engineering to ship everything they need to ship as quickly as possible, because we are a product and engineering led company.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 26:24 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Coinbase Interviews Require a 20-Minute Presentation and 10-Minute Q&A
“Finally, we actually have a presentation part of our interview process, and this is the hallmark of Coinbase. And I can tell you a lot of really amazing senior people kind of have a It's 20 minutes of presentation. It's 10 minutes of Q&A.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 14:03 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Choi: Coinbase commits to one-week turnaround for RAPID decisions
“We also try to get these decisions decided in a week. So once we actually have the formal rapid written, we're committing to getting back to these folks in a week.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 34:42 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Choi: Brian Armstrong remains calm regardless of crypto market conditions
“First of all, I think Brian Armstrong, our founder, is the key to this because he is very kind of calm and even keeled and balanced regardless of how the market is.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 5:45 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Choi: How decisions are made is top interview question at Coinbase
“In fact, it's probably the number one question I get from people who are interviewing with Coinbase. How does decision making get made?”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 33:35 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Choi: Brian Armstrong Stamped Out Political Culture and Side-Lobbying at Coinbase
“Brian Armstrong, there's no political culture here, and I don't just mean that about his apolitical post. I mean about, you don't lobby people on the side. You don't have this thing where you talk about Somebody in the room one way, and then after they leave t…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 23:04 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Disclosure
Choi Pressure-Tested Armstrong's M&A Commitment Before Joining Coinbase
“I pressure tested this with Brian. Cause I really wanted to make sure if I was going to come over to head up corp dev at Coinbase that Brian genuinely wanted to do M&A.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 11:14 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 neutral
Disclosure
Coinbase Execs Write 2-3 Problem-Proposed-Solution One-Pagers Every Week
“The exec team ourselves probably write, you know, Two to three a week.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 24:02 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coinbase Expects New Hires to Deliver Within 30 Days or Leave
“We're going to want to see real action, and that means that if you really don't do something amazing in the first 30 days, you're probably not going to be a fit here, and it's actually the most compassionate thing to say, you know what? Bad on us, because we p…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 38:35 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 positive
Assertion Supported
Coinbase Conducts All M&A Using RAPID With Single Decision-Makers
“We're not a committee. We're not a consensus based culture. There has to be one decision maker at the end of the day. If you have the right people as part of that rapid, you're going to be so buttoned up about how you can run fast on making quick M and a decis…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 20:37 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coinbase logs all internal decisions and key conversations in Google Docs
“We do everything in Google Docs. If you and I have a conversation and make a decision about something, we document it in Google Docs”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 15:42 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Aug 23, 2021
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coinbase Allocates Resources: 70% Core, 20% Adjacencies, 10% Venture Bets
“70% of our resources are devoted to core, 20% are devoted to adjacencies, and 10% are devoted to venture bets, right?”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 27:24 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
May 30, 2022 negative
Disclosure
Rabois: Passing on an early Coinbase meeting was a massive mistake
“Is this the, you know, whatever, let's say Coinbase that I, you know, was introduced to very, very early by Gary, who really, Gary Tan, who really wanted me to invest. And, you know, I basically wrote back. I really didn't want to meet them, even though I actu…”
Keith Rabois May 30, 2022 ▶ 31:03 Keith Rabois: The End of Woke Capitalism; Time Allocation Tips; Silicon Valley vs Miami | 20VC #891 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jun 24, 2022 positive
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Harlem Capital aims for consistent 3x-5x net returns over single outlier wins
“And so for us, like we're not targeting to be that one coin based outcome, that one stripe outcome, like we're saying over time, how do we get LPs to know that we can consistently generate three to five X net returns.”
Henri Pierre-Jacques Jun 24, 2022 ▶ 7:38 Henri Pierre-Jacques: How I Founded Harlem Capital; Our $134M Fund | 20VC #901 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 21, 2022 neutral
Disclosure
Harrison: Former firm passed on Coinbase at a $1.5B valuation
“Back in the day, we passed on Coinbase at 1.5 billion”
Kyle Harrison Oct 21, 2022 ▶ 52:08 Kyle Harrison: Why 75% of Active Investors Will Disappear in the Next Few Years | 20VC #940 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 positive
Opinion
Brian Armstrong calls Sam Bankman-Fried brilliant and praises FTX execution speed
“I think Sam is a brilliant guy. I've gotten a chance to talk to him on a number of occasions. I think he's done a really good job of kind of generating interest in the company with his public persona, which is something that, you know, as more of an introvert,…”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 45:17 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 positive
Assertion Supported
Armstrong: Coinbase generated $7B revenue and $3B profit in 2021
“We did do, we did seven billion in revenue, three billion in profit.”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 42:56 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 negative
Disclosure
Armstrong: Internal political activism was a major distraction at Coinbase
“We weren't aligned internally about being apolitical. And we had a small vocal percentage of the company just kind of who thought we should be engaging in all these social issues. So it was a major distraction internally.”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 16:57 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 bullish
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Armstrong: Institutional clients continue signing up for Coinbase at a massive rate
“Institutions are still signing up at a massive rate.”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 29:24 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 positive
Insight
Armstrong: Bain's RAPID decision framework is effective for companies over 500 people
“We also use a decision-making framework called RAPID R-A-P-I-D, which Bain developed And it's, I found it to be pretty helpful as a, as an organization gets to be more than, I don't know, 500 people where you just can't really keep track of who everyone is and…”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 20:13 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Armstrong: I have never fired an employee in anger on the spot
“And I, frankly, I've never done that once in my whole life. I've never fired somebody in anger in the moment, right?”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 12:58 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022
Insight
Armstrong: Startup goals are largely secured once 60% to 70% complete
“I don't usually by the time I accomplished some goal that I've set, maybe I've worked on it for years by the time I actually hit it. I'm usually don't not even thinking about it. I'm like, cause you know, by the time you're at like, 60%, 70%, you're like, oh m…”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 4:07 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 negative
Disclosure
Armstrong: Coinbase overhired in 2021 and it was a mistake
“We over hired, I would say in 20, 21. That was a mistake.”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 42:28 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 negative
Opinion
Armstrong: Gary Gensler failed to create clear crypto rules and has been uncooperative
“I think that he had a major opportunity to come in and actually like clearly regulate the industry and publish clear rules and say, this is a security. This is not work with the CFTC and other areas of government to kind of create a clear framework, which prot…”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 48:53 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 bullish
Prediction Partly held up
Armstrong: Coinbase will evolve into a holding company of decentralized units
“The future is a little hard to predict, but look, here's one vision I've had for it, which is that I think Coinbase Global, the parent company is starting to become more like a holding company over time. And we have this portfolio of different products, differ…”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 51:48 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 positive
Insight
Brian Armstrong: Crypto brands must stand up to bad government occasionally
“This is where like we often struggle as a company where, you know, 95% of the time, I think being the most trusted brand in the space is about working with the government. And I'm happy to show up in D.C. Anywhere, and I work with people, and we, 95% of the ti…”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 49:37 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Coinbase raised $3B debt in one week with zero CEO meetings
“You know, I was kind of surprised to learn that like in, in 20, 21 you know, our CFO came to me and it was like the, you know, the markets are really good. The debt terms are really good. We should probably stock up for the next, you know, if there's another c…”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 23:43 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 positive
Assertion Supported
Coinbase public status unlocked deals with BlackRock and Meta
“We've been able to close deals with, you know, BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, and, you know, Meta, formerly Facebook, like we're now, especially with our Coinbase cloud business and things like that, we're now able to power things with Fort…”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 23:12 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 7, 2022 negative
Assertion Supported
Armstrong: FTX and Binance took riskier international regulatory paths than Coinbase
“I think generally, I think both FTX and Binance have been really good at execution and You know, they've taken a different risk posture, I would say, internationally as well, which, you know, we'll, we'll see, have to see what happens with that. But Coinbase i…”
Brian Armstrong Nov 7, 2022 ▶ 46:55 Brian Armstrong: Coinbase’s Failed NFT Launch, Thoughts on SBF & FTX, Crypto Winter | 20VC #946 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Dec 3, 2022 positive
Opinion
Hockey: Coinbase was punished for following regulations while competitors like FTX cheated
“I hope they do really well, because I think what they have tried to do very well is they've tried to embrace regulation and they've tried to do things the right way. They've tried to do things that are right by the regulators and they're right by consumers. An…”
William Hockey Dec 3, 2022 ▶ 45:05 William Hockey: How I Founded Plaid; The Ultimate Cold Email Tip; Hiring Lessons | 20VC #955 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Dec 3, 2022 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Hockey: Restricting legit crypto companies drives consumers to harmful black markets
“I'm probably a hopeless optimist, but I think what it shows is actually, if we don't allow the good players, like a Coinbase, et cetera, to move quickly and actually be able to innovate, those people, like those people are gonna go somewhere, right? People wan…”
William Hockey Dec 3, 2022 ▶ 43:56 William Hockey: How I Founded Plaid; The Ultimate Cold Email Tip; Hiring Lessons | 20VC #955 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Apr 14, 2023 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Marcus: Coinbase will succeed long term by playing by regulatory rules
“Brian Armstrong has done a really, really good job at balancing this and from the get-go decided that he wanted to play by the rules and has been desperately demanding clear rules from the various regulators. And, you know, certainly I think over the long run,…”
David Marcus Apr 14, 2023 ▶ 28:17 David Marcus: How I Came to Lead PayPal; Why FB's Crypto Failed; How AI Fixes Inequality | E1001 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 30, 2023
Disclosure
Tomaino lost his entire $50K net worth in a phishing attack
“I got an email saying that Coinbase updated terms of service. I clicked the link to try to update the service, log into Coinbase to do so, logged into Coinbase with my password, boom the hacker Got into my account and drained all my Bitcoin. So it wasn't a ton…”
Nick Tomaino Oct 30, 2023 ▶ 12:10 Nick Tomaino: The Future of NFTs, What Will Happen with FTX & Who Should be Held to Account | E1076 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 30, 2023 bullish
Disclosure
Tomaino emptied his bank account to buy Bitcoin while at Coinbase
“I had all my money in Bitcoin on Coinbase, right? And that's how much I believed. Like I basically you know, emptied my bank account put it all in, in Bitcoin.”
Nick Tomaino Oct 30, 2023 ▶ 10:55 Nick Tomaino: The Future of NFTs, What Will Happen with FTX & Who Should be Held to Account | E1076 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 30, 2023
Disclosure
Tomaino reveals he was effectively pushed out of Coinbase
“Well, frankly, I mean, I got pushed out of Coinbase. Like, I wasn't a, Great employee, I think is the truth. I think I did a lot for Coinbase in the early days. But I wasn't, Coinbase got to a certain point where I wasn't great at kind of office politics and f…”
Nick Tomaino Oct 30, 2023 ▶ 2:48 Nick Tomaino: The Future of NFTs, What Will Happen with FTX & Who Should be Held to Account | E1076 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 4, 2024 bearish
Opinion
Lemkin: Coinbase's 10% high-yield crypto program is a pyramid scheme
“And even, I know Coinbase is the good one, but where are they getting this 10%? It's a pyramid scheme. It's fraud.”
Jason Lemkin Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 14:56 Jason Lemkin: Predictions for 2024 - What Does a Trump Administration do for Startups? | E1099 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 26, 2024 bearish
Prediction Held up
Ripley Predicts the SEC Will Lose Its Crypto Enforcement Lawsuits
“They won't be successful, right? They've lost an XRP. They've lost the grayscale thing. They just kind of continue to not see success with these with these actions. So I don't think they, you know, they won't be successful.”
Dave Ripley Jan 26, 2024 ▶ 8:39 Dave Ripley: Are the SEC Overreaching with its Approach to Crypto? Should Gensler Step Down? | E1108 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Feb 9, 2024 positive
Insight
Tisch: Small stakes in outlier companies outperform strict ownership targets
“Every VC's math works if you fund great companies. And so it's not about This, like, ownership threshold. If anybody owned one percent of Facebook, one percent of Uber.1% of Coinbase, your math works. Your math works really well, and it scales.”
David Tisch Feb 9, 2024 ▶ 22:53 20VC: Doug Leone, Bill Ackman, Bill Gurley and Orlando Bravo on "Does Price Matter"; When to Pay Up vs When to Stay Disciplined, The Biggest Lessons on Price Discipline from 8 of the World's Best Investors
Jul 17, 2024
Assertion Supported
Brex Built Its Enterprise Platform in One Year to Acquire Major Clients
“And it took us, you know, a year to get something that worked. And that's how, you know, ultimately, we closed customers like DoorDash, like Coinbase, like Robinhood, you know, like all these large enterprise customers that would not have traditionally come to…”
Pedro Franceschi Jul 17, 2024 ▶ 18:56 Pedro Franceschi: What Brex Needs to do to be a Public Company | E1178 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Sep 6, 2024 negative
What-if
Chirls: Coinbase would have succeeded without Andreessen Horowitz and USV
“Would Coinbase not have been successful? If they hadn't take money from Andreessen Horowitz and USV. No, I think they would have been just as successful.”
Nicholas Chirls Sep 6, 2024 ▶ 47:20 Nicholas Chirls: Why Big VCs Ruin Startups, VC is a Ponzi Scheme Today & Most VCs are Bankers |E1198 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 30, 2024 neutral
Assertion Partly supported
Saarinen: Airbnb and Coinbase had no sales teams during his tenure
“Airbnb and Coinbase, they weren't very like go to market driven companies. They're not sales cult. Like you didn't have sales people in the company”
Karri Saarinen Oct 30, 2024 ▶ 7:21 Karri Saarinen: How to Grow Capital Efficiently in a World of BS Growth | E1221 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 30, 2024
Assertion Contradicted
Coinbase Exchange Was Built by a Single Engineer in Six Months
“There was like, for example, Coinbase exchange, which is the trading platform they have that initially was built by one guy. Like he was in a room and then he was building it for maybe six months, but he was built by one guy. And then when it went live, it, It…”
Karri Saarinen Oct 30, 2024 ▶ 3:39 Karri Saarinen: How to Grow Capital Efficiently in a World of BS Growth | E1221 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 1, 2024 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Tenev: Robinhood US retail crypto volume is close to Coinbase
“Well, on retail in the US we're kind of like close to the same size as Coinbase. We charge a lot less, so we have less revenue. But in terms of volumes and retail volumes, It's pretty close particularly if you look at supported coins.”
Vlad Tenev Nov 1, 2024 ▶ 29:07 Vlad Tenev, Co-Founder & CEO @Robinhood: The GameStop Saga & The Future of AI | E1222 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 11, 2024 positive
Disclosure
Anduril operates internally as an apolitical company following Coinbase's philosophy
“Internal to Anderrill, like we're an apolitical company. Like we don't talk about personal politics inside the company. We kind of subscribe to the Brian Armstrong Coinbase kind of philosophy of like, we're here for a mission.”
Matt Grimm Nov 11, 2024 ▶ 2:08 Matt Grimm, Co-Founder @Anduril: How a Trump Administration Changes the Defence Industry | E1224 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Mar 26, 2025 neutral
Disclosure
Green: Lead Edge Capital passed on Chainalysis, Coinbase, and early Bitcoin
“We've looked at stuff around the like we looked at chain analysis years and years ago, probably should have done it. Like the picks and shovels type stuff. Look, should have done Coinbase, like, years and years ago. By the way, I should have bought Bitcoin, to…”
Mitchell Green Mar 26, 2025 ▶ 1:14:21 Mitchell Green, Founder @ Lead Edge Capital: Why Traditional VC is Broken · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Sep 22, 2025
Disclosure
Taneja passed on Coinbase's seed round introduced by Paul Graham
“So I'll never forget that one of my big messes when Paul Graham asked me to look at the seed round of Coinbase, and I said to myself, a Bitcoin ATM? What is that? I had no idea what this industry was about to become. Like, I mean, I, it still haunts me.”
Hemant Taneja Sep 22, 2025 ▶ 10:51 General Catalyst CEO, Hemant Taneja: Lessons Scaling GC to $40BN in AUM · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Dec 15, 2025 bullish
Disclosure
a16z's best fund ever saw Databricks return 7x and Coinbase 5x
“Our best performing fund in the history of the firm is actually a one billion dollar fund. So it's a large fund, right? In that fund, Databricks has returned seven X the fund so far. Coinbase has returned already DPI five X of the fund.”
David George Dec 15, 2025 ▶ 2:33 a16z's David George on the Most Controversial Bet at a16z & Do Margins and Revenue Matter in AI? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Mar 16, 2026 positive
Assertion Supported
Rajaram: Coinbase has 12 product lines generating over $100M in revenue each
“Coinbase has 12 doing a hundred million revenue.”
Gokul Rajaram Mar 16, 2026 ▶ 25:13 Gokul Rajaram: How to Analyse for Durability and Defensibility in a World of AI · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Mar 16, 2026 bullish
Assertion Contradicted
Rajaram: State licenses make Coinbase irreplaceable for crypto custody
“Coinbase, when I'm on the board, is a great example. They have MTLs, money transmission licenses, state by state. There is with the Fini, CN, all of those things. It makes it impossible for a company to use anybody else than Coinbase to custody their crypto be…”
Gokul Rajaram Mar 16, 2026 ▶ 9:51 Gokul Rajaram: How to Analyse for Durability and Defensibility in a World of AI · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 7, 2026 positive
Opinion
O'Driscoll: Brian Armstrong's ban on political discussion at Coinbase was entirely correct
“In retrospect, an excellent call. I mean, an excellent, not only because it wasn't just a political call, it wasn't taking the other side, it was taking no side, which has turned out to be entirely the correct position.”
Rory O'Driscoll May 7, 2026 ▶ 1:28:36 Anthropic's Raise & What It Means for Potential IPO? Mag7: Google & Amazon Up, Meta & Microsoft Down · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jul 2, 2026 bullish
What-if
O'Driscoll: Without open source, Coinbase's AI costs would have sextupled
“The counter counterfactual is if those open source product didn't exist, the Brian Armstrong quote would tweet would have been, We were paying ten million dollars six months ago for our AI intelligence. Now we're paying 60.”
Rory O'Driscoll Jul 2, 2026 ▶ 33:03 Coinbase Cuts AI Spend by 50% | Kalshi's $40B Valuation & Impending IPO | The Year for SaaS Roll-Ups · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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