WEBVTT FILE

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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What about this Internet thing?

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Do you-- Do you know
anything about that?

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Sure.

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Wha-- what
the hell is that exactly?

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Well, it's-- it's become a place

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where people are
publishing information,

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-Right.
-so everybody can have their own

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home page, companies are there.

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The latest information,
it's wild what's going on.

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You can send electronic
mail to people.

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Uh, it is the big new thing.

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Yeah, but, you know, uh,
it's easy to criticize

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something you don't
fully understand,

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which is my position here.

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Let's make that set,
guys, pictures up.

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We like that position.

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Okay, guys,
check your cellphones.

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Make sure everybody's
set on vibrate, please.

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No open walkies on set.

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Okay. Let's do last looks,
please. Thank you.

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Okay, let's get
everybody in place

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let's get ready
to lock up the doors.

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-Thank you.
-Okay, cool.

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Lock it up, gang.
Here we go.

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From the top.
Reading from the dolly prompter.

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Settle in, please. Let's roll
sound and roll cameras.

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Rolling.

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All right. Here we go, guys.

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That's four cameras.
On your mark.

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And action.

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I'm Brian Armstrong,
co-founder and CEO of Coinbase.

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When Coinbase first got started,

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we were a simple place for
people to buy and sell Bitcoin.

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<i> The largest</i>
<i>US cryptocurrency exchange</i>

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<i>is about to be a publicly</i>
<i>traded company</i>

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<i>after years of</i> scepticism
<i>from Wall Street about Bitcoin.</i>

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Coinbase is a company

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to create more economic
freedom for every--

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Try that one again.

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Get ready to go again.

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<i> Coinbase really helped</i>
<i>to take cryptocurrency</i>

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<i>from an internet hobby</i>
<i>for coders</i>

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<i>to a mainstream</i>
<i>investment today.</i>

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I imagined a world where
anybody with a smartphone

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could have access to sound
money and financial services,

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where every payment
could be as fast,

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cheap and global
as sending an email.

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We're helping make this happen

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by building the open financial
system for the world.

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That sounded like a question.

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-For the world?
-Still rolling.

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-For the world!
-Action.

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By building the open financial
system for the world.

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We're cut.

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<i>We're flying.</i>

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<i> I grew up</i>
<i>in San Jose, California.</i>

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<i>The early days</i>
<i>of the dot-com boom</i>

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<i>was happening in</i>
<i>Silicon Valley.</i>

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<i>Pretty cool ride, Bri.</i>

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<i>The spacecraft has landed.</i>

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<i> It was kind of</i>
<i>a nerdy household.</i>

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Right there with the camera. Hi.

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What is your name
and how are you related to me?

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I'm Dave Armstrong
and I'm your dad.

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<i> My dad was an</i>
<i>environmental engineer.</i>

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Okay, and you.

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If you don't know now,
it's too late.

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<i> My mom worked at IBM.</i>

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<i>She was one of the early women</i>
<i>computer programmers.</i>

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-Ow!
<i>-I was really shy as a kid,</i>

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<i>and I felt like I have</i>
<i>these good ideas,</i>

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<i>but people don't listen to me.</i>

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Hello, everyone.

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This is Brian's room.

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My molecule poster
and my iguana.

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He was very interested
in computers,

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so we shopped around and tried
to find a deal on a used one,

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and we finally got him one

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that was a pretty good
working computer,

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but it had a German keyboard.

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And so we said, uh,

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"Here's your computer, Brian.

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Uh, it's up to you to
figure out how to use it."

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<i> In high school,</i>
<i>I built this website.</i>

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<i>I remember, I went to sleep</i>
<i>and I woke up in the morning</i>

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<i>and I checked the stats</i>

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<i>and, like, a thousand people</i>
<i>looked at it</i>

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<i>while I was sleeping.</i>

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<i>It's like making</i>
<i>a copy of myself,</i>

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<i>talking to these thousand</i>
<i>people all over the world.</i>

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<i>That was, like,</i>
<i>the coolest feeling ever.</i>

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<i>And when I went to college,</i>

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<i>my roommate and I</i>
<i>were trying to think</i>

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<i>about how to make</i>
<i>some extra cash.</i>

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<i>And I realized if we were</i>
<i>to tutor high school students,</i>

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<i>yeah, we could</i>
<i>make great money.</i>

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<i>We decided,</i>
<i>let's make a web app.</i>

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<i>It was called University Tutor.</i>

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<i>I thought getting customers</i>
<i>would be the hard part,</i>

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<i>but the movement of the money</i>
<i>was actually the hardest part.</i>

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Somebody from our bank
called us one day

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and they're like,
"What are you guys doing?

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Why is this money moving
in these certain patterns?"

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And, you know, um, "Are you
aggregating customer funds?"

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And I'm like, "I don't know
what that means."

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And it felt like I was actually
being treated like a criminal.

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I was disappointed, I couldn't
ever get it to break out

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and be a real success.

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So, after I graduated college,

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I ended up selling it.

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I felt like, what do
I want to do with my life?

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I wanted to put myself
out of my comfort zone.

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So, I decided to move
to Buenos Aires for a year.

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"Where are you going
to live?" "Well, I don't know.

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There's this
or something."

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"I'll go see
if they have a room there."

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And I mean,
it's just sort of really loose,

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freer than I would have been.

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One of the things I did
notice living in Argentina

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is that they have
this really amazing culture

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and people there
are really proud,

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but they also have this history

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of really deep distrust
of the government.

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I got to see what an economy
and a culture looked like

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that had gone through, um,
hyperinflation

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and didn't have a well-run
monetary system.

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I remember these menus
I saw at a restaurant.

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Prices would update due to
inflation frequently enough

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that they had to put
new stickers on top

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instead of printing new menus.

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One of the things
that stuck with me was that

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they didn't believe that
the future could be better.

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I remember feeling kind
of frustrated about that.

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It felt like, "Yeah,
this is just kind of wrong."

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Around Christmas time, 2010,

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I came back to California and I
was just home with my family

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and I happened to come across
the Bitcoin Whitepaper.

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I think it was Christmas dinner,
and we were saying,

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"Come on down, we got dinner
hot on the table."

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And he was saying,
"Just wait, just wait."

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It was describing

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something kind of like
the Internet that was global

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and decentralized that
no company or country owned.

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But instead of
for moving information around

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like the Internet,
it was for moving value around.

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I thought,
"Oh my gosh, this could have

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an enormous impact
on the world."

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I remember my mother
at some point was like,

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you know, "Come down
and spend time with the family."

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And I was like, "I'm reading
this really important thing."

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I don't know. He didn't come
down and talk about it, though.

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No, no, no. Because we wouldn't
have understood it, if he did.

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After Christmas,
I got back on the plane.

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I started flying
back to Buenos Aires.

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And I remember having this
sinking feeling in my stomach.

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"Oh, my gosh. Why am I leaving?
I'm going the wrong direction."

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The Bitcoin Whitepaper

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was a major technological
breakthrough.

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It actually solved
the number of major

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computer science challenges,

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and it allowed a new thing
to exist in the world

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that people found valuable.

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Each time we figured out how to
do a new thing on the Internet,

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we fundamentally disrupted
a major industry.

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Email disrupted
the postal office,

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the World Wide Web disrupted
all of media and advertising.

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SSL allowed us to do
commerce over the Internet.

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One way to conceive of Bitcoin

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is it's the technology
that allows us

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to move money over the Internet.

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We've had lots of digital
monies for a long time,

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but they were regulated by banks

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and other big large institutions
like a national government.

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Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency
that takes a very different view

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where it's decentralized

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and not in the control
of a central state.

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Anyone can access and earn and
receive, store and send bitcoin

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without asking
anyone for permission,

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no matter where
they are in the world.

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All they need
is internet access.

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Bitcoin is providing
a form of economic freedom

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to everybody on Earth
that we never had before.

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Bitcoin is giving
the power to the people

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and making it more of
an even playing field.

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Doesn't matter their background
or race or ethnicity.

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Poor kids, black kids,
Spanish kids, whoever,

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you can participate and not have
to be from Wall Street.

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Modern money,
as we know it

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more or less started in
the Depression, in the 1930s.

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And yet it feels to us
that the way money is now

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is the way money
has always been,

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and that any other way
to do money is ridiculous.

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Money becomes money

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when a lot of people
believe that it is money, right?

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Like if I make up
Goldstein Bucks

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and only I think it's money,
it's not money.

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But if 100 people
think it's money,

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then it's, like, kind of money
for those hundred people.

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If we all buy
and sell stuff with it,

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it's like money
a little bit for us.

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If a million people
think it's money,

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like, it's pretty money-ish now.

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If 100 million people
think it's money,

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it is definitely money.

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Bitcoin today still feels to
many people like an uncertain,

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slightly crazy, outside
of the mainstream idea.

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Back up ten years ago,

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people would've thought
you absolutely insane.

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I came back
from Argentina

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and eventually,
took a job at Airbnb,

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but I kind of just couldn't
stop thinking about Bitcoin.

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I just had this very
visceral sense

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that the economy
is becoming more global,

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but many of the countries
around the world

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don't have stable financial
systems, and it's deeply unfair.

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lI really believed
in the potential of Bitcoin

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to create empowerment
for people,

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but it needs to be
dramatically easier to use

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and trusted and safe.

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Using Bitcoin at that time
was pretty difficult.

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If you wanted to buy some,
you had to send a wire

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to one of the only
Bitcoin exchanges

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at that time called Mt. Gox,
which was in Japan.

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Frankly, it was not the most
trustworthy place.

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Authorities in Tokyo arrested

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the former head
of the Japan-based

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Mt. Gox for allegedly
falsifying financial records.

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Several hundred million dollars
were unaccounted for.

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Also, by the way, if you
actually acquire any bitcoin

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and your hard drive crashed,
your bitcoin would be gone.

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So, I felt like the solution
is a hosted Bitcoin wallet.

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In the evenings and weekends,

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I started tinkering
with this prototype.

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The big idea was
make Bitcoin easier to use.

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00:10:08.046 --> 00:10:10.244
Just the concept
of cryptocurrency, what's that--

238
00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:12.752
And how are you going
to make a living off of it?

239
00:10:12.787 --> 00:10:15.018
I'm not sure
we still understand that.

240
00:10:15.053 --> 00:10:16.118
-Yeah.

241
00:10:17.087 --> 00:10:18.417
The analogies
that I had in my mind

242
00:10:18.452 --> 00:10:19.858
were services like Gmail.

243
00:10:19.893 --> 00:10:21.420
If you lost your phone
or your computer,

244
00:10:21.455 --> 00:10:23.224
your email wasn't all gone,
it was in the cloud

245
00:10:23.259 --> 00:10:25.127
and people were doing security
and backups for you.

246
00:10:25.162 --> 00:10:26.733
I remember I was
talking to somebody,

247
00:10:26.768 --> 00:10:27.899
"Yeah, I'm thinking
about launching

248
00:10:27.934 --> 00:10:29.868
a hosted Bitcoin wallet."

249
00:10:29.903 --> 00:10:31.903
And this guy was like, "Oh, my
gosh, that's a terrible idea."

250
00:10:32.334 --> 00:10:34.873
I thought, maybe I'm crazy.
You know, I was like,

251
00:10:34.908 --> 00:10:36.776
"I think this is kind of
cool and interesting,

252
00:10:36.811 --> 00:10:38.338
but like, nobody else
seems to think so."

253
00:10:39.176 --> 00:10:42.111
Let me apply to Y Combinator
and see what they say.

254
00:10:42.146 --> 00:10:44.784
Y Combinator
is a startup incubator,

255
00:10:44.819 --> 00:10:47.886
meaning it funds a whole
bunch of startups at once

256
00:10:47.921 --> 00:10:49.888
and then tries to
help them get rolling.

257
00:10:50.253 --> 00:10:52.858
The minute I got
accepted into Y Combinator,

258
00:10:52.893 --> 00:10:55.124
I decided I was quitting
my job at Airbnb

259
00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:57.027
and starting this new company.

260
00:10:57.062 --> 00:10:59.260
How is he going to survive?
Does he have health care?

261
00:10:59.295 --> 00:11:01.097
What's going to happen here?

262
00:11:01.132 --> 00:11:03.000
Does he have enough to eat?

263
00:11:03.035 --> 00:11:05.167
So, unfortunately,
very few startups succeed.

264
00:11:05.906 --> 00:11:07.466
We tend to think
of the ones that do.

265
00:11:07.501 --> 00:11:09.435
Google or PayPal,

266
00:11:09.470 --> 00:11:12.746
these kind of iconic
public companies.

267
00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:15.243
This is why we created HUD Log.

268
00:11:15.278 --> 00:11:18.444
Statistically, the chance
of a startup going public

269
00:11:18.479 --> 00:11:20.479
is less than a percent for sure.

270
00:11:20.514 --> 00:11:22.283
I can't wait to tell you more.

271
00:11:22.318 --> 00:11:23.955
Going public is for founders

272
00:11:23.990 --> 00:11:27.189
what winning an Academy Award
is for an actor.

273
00:11:27.224 --> 00:11:29.455
All right, I need to
pick some name for this thing.

274
00:11:29.490 --> 00:11:31.765
I'd happen to be reading
the Wikipedia entry

275
00:11:31.800 --> 00:11:34.427
for the Bitcoin protocol, and I
saw the word Coinbase in there.

276
00:11:34.462 --> 00:11:36.165
Coinbase is okay.

277
00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:38.068
I didn't love the name,
but I'll change it later.

278
00:11:38.103 --> 00:11:40.433
Coinbase is a hosted
Bitcoin platform.

279
00:11:40.468 --> 00:11:42.303
You can access your money
from any device.

280
00:11:42.338 --> 00:11:44.404
You don't have to worry
about security and backups.

281
00:11:44.439 --> 00:11:46.208
We'd love to
have you bring it...

282
00:11:46.243 --> 00:11:47.847
We'd love to have you help us

283
00:11:48.509 --> 00:11:50.443
bring it to the rest of them.
I need to...

284
00:11:50.478 --> 00:11:53.314
<i>For three months, you go through</i>
<i>this Y Combinator boot camp</i>

285
00:11:53.349 --> 00:11:54.953
<i>and then you go pitch</i>
<i>at Demo Day</i>

286
00:11:54.988 --> 00:11:56.185
<i>in front of all these investors.</i>

287
00:11:56.220 --> 00:11:58.121
Coinbase is doing for Bitcoin

288
00:11:58.156 --> 00:12:00.123
what iTunes did to the MP3.

289
00:12:00.158 --> 00:12:03.159
Brian's idea
was not a hot deal

290
00:12:03.194 --> 00:12:04.963
with investors after Demo Day.

291
00:12:04.998 --> 00:12:07.130
This was not the one
that every investor

292
00:12:07.165 --> 00:12:08.802
in the Valley was talking about

293
00:12:08.837 --> 00:12:10.804
and felt like they had
to have a piece of.

294
00:12:10.839 --> 00:12:12.806
It was really depressing.

295
00:12:12.841 --> 00:12:14.566
After I graduated
from Y Combinator,

296
00:12:14.601 --> 00:12:17.008
there was a lot of things that
I couldn't figure out how to do,

297
00:12:17.043 --> 00:12:18.537
and I needed to find
a co-founder.

298
00:12:20.112 --> 00:12:21.980
I kind of grew up
on the Internet,

299
00:12:22.015 --> 00:12:23.982
played way too many video games.

300
00:12:24.985 --> 00:12:27.920
My parents thought that
was a total waste of time.

301
00:12:27.955 --> 00:12:29.317
Fred was,
certainly in high school,

302
00:12:29.352 --> 00:12:31.088
into that in a pretty
serious way.

303
00:12:31.123 --> 00:12:32.892
To the point where,
in my opinion,

304
00:12:32.927 --> 00:12:34.322
he was kind of losing sleep

305
00:12:34.357 --> 00:12:36.126
and we needed to tell him
to kind of go to bed.

306
00:12:37.228 --> 00:12:38.964
One time to try
to get me to stop playing,

307
00:12:38.999 --> 00:12:42.132
my mom shut off the circuit
breaker for the whole house.

308
00:12:43.938 --> 00:12:45.531
Needless to say,
she was unsuccessful.

309
00:12:47.337 --> 00:12:50.041
After college, I went
to work at Goldman Sachs

310
00:12:50.076 --> 00:12:51.438
as a foreign exchange trader.

311
00:12:51.473 --> 00:12:53.341
I thought it was
the closest I would get

312
00:12:53.376 --> 00:12:57.180
to playing a video game
for a real reputable job.

313
00:12:57.215 --> 00:12:59.215
Goldman is an elite institution,

314
00:12:59.250 --> 00:13:02.350
and the job that he got
was well into the 1%.

315
00:13:02.385 --> 00:13:04.154
When I got there,
I learned

316
00:13:04.189 --> 00:13:06.255
that this video game wasn't that
much fun unfortunately.

317
00:13:07.093 --> 00:13:11.326
I'd found Bitcoin on a blog
one night and became obsessed.

318
00:13:11.361 --> 00:13:14.131
It got to the point
where I was trading Bitcoin

319
00:13:14.166 --> 00:13:15.968
in the bathroom at work.

320
00:13:17.037 --> 00:13:20.302
One day I see this post saying,

321
00:13:20.337 --> 00:13:22.106
"I've created this demo app

322
00:13:22.141 --> 00:13:23.910
that makes it really easy
to use crypto

323
00:13:23.945 --> 00:13:25.945
and I'm looking for somebody
to work on it with."

324
00:13:25.980 --> 00:13:27.606
Here I am thinking,

325
00:13:27.641 --> 00:13:30.246
"Yeah, it kind of seems like
cryptocurrency is small

326
00:13:30.281 --> 00:13:33.546
and crazy and feels like
a toy right now, but, um...

327
00:13:35.517 --> 00:13:37.055
that seems like something
I would really

328
00:13:37.090 --> 00:13:38.320
want to spend
my time working on."

329
00:13:38.685 --> 00:13:40.586
My cell phone rings
and it's Fred.

330
00:13:40.621 --> 00:13:41.895
And Fred says,

331
00:13:42.964 --> 00:13:45.393
"Dad, I think I'm going
to go join this startup."

332
00:13:46.935 --> 00:13:48.561
And I said, "Okay."

333
00:13:50.169 --> 00:13:54.072
He decided to turn his back
on lifetime financial security,

334
00:13:54.107 --> 00:13:55.634
sell all his stuff,

335
00:13:55.669 --> 00:13:59.011
go out to the West Coast
for a highly risky venture.

336
00:13:59.574 --> 00:14:01.475
The office was
a glorified apartment.

337
00:14:01.510 --> 00:14:04.918
It looked like
a bachelor pad.

338
00:14:04.953 --> 00:14:06.447
-I think I--
-It was an old building.

339
00:14:06.482 --> 00:14:08.185
And as a matter of fact,

340
00:14:08.220 --> 00:14:10.286
about a year or two after
they were in there,

341
00:14:10.321 --> 00:14:12.090
a piece of the building
fell over-- fell off

342
00:14:12.125 --> 00:14:13.685
and hit somebody in the head.

343
00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:16.061
-I was-- It was serious, I--
-Inside the building?

344
00:14:16.096 --> 00:14:18.261
Outside the building. I mean,
it was an old, old building.

345
00:14:18.296 --> 00:14:21.099
We spent all of
our waking hours together.

346
00:14:21.134 --> 00:14:23.068
Six to seven days a week.

347
00:14:23.103 --> 00:14:25.664
Constantly thinking about what
can we do to make this better.

348
00:14:25.699 --> 00:14:29.140
It became clear that
Fred had insane work ethic

349
00:14:29.175 --> 00:14:31.571
and we had very
complementary skill sets.

350
00:14:31.606 --> 00:14:34.079
I didn't know for sure
if it would work out,

351
00:14:34.114 --> 00:14:35.674
but there was something
special happening.

352
00:14:36.446 --> 00:14:39.315
At some level, it almost
didn't even feel like work

353
00:14:39.350 --> 00:14:42.219
just because I think
we were having so much fun

354
00:14:42.254 --> 00:14:44.056
while we were doing it.

355
00:14:44.091 --> 00:14:46.586
We both did a bunch
of coding and engineering,

356
00:14:46.621 --> 00:14:48.555
worked on the product,

357
00:14:48.590 --> 00:14:51.096
and then we both did a lot of
customer support late at night.

358
00:14:51.131 --> 00:14:53.032
It was getting to
a place where, like,

359
00:14:53.067 --> 00:14:54.726
our whole day was
answering support tickets

360
00:14:54.761 --> 00:14:56.695
and we realized
we need to start hiring.

361
00:14:57.335 --> 00:14:59.368
Hmm, I re-- I mean, I remember

362
00:14:59.403 --> 00:15:01.073
I came into their office

363
00:15:01.108 --> 00:15:03.240
and, uh I thought I had
a good chat with them.

364
00:15:03.275 --> 00:15:04.978
I remember thinking,
"This guy

365
00:15:05.013 --> 00:15:06.474
is really high-potential."

366
00:15:06.509 --> 00:15:08.311
I reached out to him and asked

367
00:15:08.346 --> 00:15:09.543
if you would be willing
to consider joining Coinbase.

368
00:15:09.578 --> 00:15:10.676
I am just like,

369
00:15:10.711 --> 00:15:12.249
"Unfortunately, I am kind of,

370
00:15:12.284 --> 00:15:13.712
uh, busy with this thing,

371
00:15:13.747 --> 00:15:15.681
but, you know,
best of luck with your journey."

372
00:15:17.619 --> 00:15:21.654
I was in Washington state
working as a lumberjack,

373
00:15:21.689 --> 00:15:25.064
but I was paying very close
attention to what was happening

374
00:15:25.099 --> 00:15:26.494
in the cryptocurrency landscape.

375
00:15:27.266 --> 00:15:29.629
And I wanted to see this
in the world.

376
00:15:29.664 --> 00:15:34.304
So, I just emailed Jobs@Coinbase
and said, "I'll do anything."

377
00:15:34.339 --> 00:15:37.076
I knew I didn't have
any concrete skills other than

378
00:15:37.111 --> 00:15:40.508
I knew a lot about Bitcoin
and I was ready to work hard.

379
00:15:40.543 --> 00:15:42.510
The team felt like a family.

380
00:15:42.545 --> 00:15:44.644
What's special about
a startup, right,

381
00:15:44.679 --> 00:15:47.053
is that everybody is sort
of like "sick" with you

382
00:15:47.088 --> 00:15:49.088
and share a vision
for the future.

383
00:15:49.123 --> 00:15:50.419
We felt at the time like

384
00:15:50.454 --> 00:15:51.717
we're doing
something incredible,

385
00:15:51.752 --> 00:15:53.389
but people would sign up
for the product

386
00:15:53.424 --> 00:15:55.160
and they would never
come back and use it.

387
00:15:55.195 --> 00:15:58.394
So, business wasn't growing
and we were on the verge

388
00:15:58.429 --> 00:16:01.595
of running out of money and we
did not have product market fit.

389
00:16:01.630 --> 00:16:03.630
One of the key attributes
of entrepreneurs is

390
00:16:03.665 --> 00:16:05.599
being too stupid to know
they're going to fail.

391
00:16:05.634 --> 00:16:07.403
There's really
very few startups

392
00:16:07.438 --> 00:16:10.043
that make any sense
at-- at the point of startup.

393
00:16:10.078 --> 00:16:11.803
Otherwise that firm
would already exist.

394
00:16:11.838 --> 00:16:14.146
I called up some people
who had signed up to use the app

395
00:16:14.181 --> 00:16:15.675
and I was like,
"What do you think?"

396
00:16:15.710 --> 00:16:17.446
And they would say,
"Well, I like the product,

397
00:16:17.481 --> 00:16:18.744
but I don't really
have any bitcoin,

398
00:16:18.779 --> 00:16:20.680
so I didn't have
anything to use it for."

399
00:16:20.715 --> 00:16:22.451
So that kind of made
me think, "Well,

400
00:16:22.486 --> 00:16:24.387
if there was a button
to buy bitcoin in the app,

401
00:16:24.422 --> 00:16:26.521
so you had some,
would you use that?"

402
00:16:26.556 --> 00:16:28.259
And they were like,
"Maybe, yeah."

403
00:16:29.493 --> 00:16:31.592
We posted online
that the feature was live.

404
00:16:31.627 --> 00:16:33.693
We went to bed, the next day,
bunch of people used it.

405
00:16:35.235 --> 00:16:36.663
And the day after
even more people used it.

406
00:16:37.402 --> 00:16:39.171
And the day after even more.

407
00:16:39.206 --> 00:16:41.470
It goes from pushing
a boulder up a hill every day

408
00:16:41.505 --> 00:16:43.406
to the boulders
rolling downhill

409
00:16:43.441 --> 00:16:45.210
and you're chasing it
as fast as you can.

410
00:16:45.740 --> 00:16:48.477
We were being inundated
with customer support inquiries.

411
00:16:48.512 --> 00:16:50.413
The website was
periodically going offline.

412
00:16:50.448 --> 00:16:53.383
We had all kinds of hackers
trying to break into the site.

413
00:16:53.418 --> 00:16:58.520
From 8:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m.
was Brian's uninterrupted moment

414
00:16:58.555 --> 00:17:00.588
to actually build the website.

415
00:17:00.623 --> 00:17:03.459
We developed this system
where, interrupt me if it is a--

416
00:17:03.494 --> 00:17:05.197
if it is some kind of emergency,

417
00:17:05.232 --> 00:17:06.660
but we had to define emergency.

418
00:17:06.695 --> 00:17:08.860
I would run up to him
with a Post-it note

419
00:17:08.895 --> 00:17:11.236
and I would write "red alert"

420
00:17:11.271 --> 00:17:14.272
and hold it up for him
while he was still working.

421
00:17:14.307 --> 00:17:16.439
I think it was, like,
the number of digits of money

422
00:17:16.474 --> 00:17:18.738
we would lose if this wasn't
fixed in the next hour.

423
00:17:19.609 --> 00:17:21.345
Our bank was, like,
calling us every day.

424
00:17:21.380 --> 00:17:23.116
"We're probably gonna
turn off your bank account

425
00:17:23.151 --> 00:17:24.810
if you don't get some more
money in your account."

426
00:17:24.845 --> 00:17:27.714
And at that moment, we rushed
out to raise the Series-A.

427
00:17:27.749 --> 00:17:30.882
The Series-A is where
a venture capital firm

428
00:17:30.917 --> 00:17:33.786
will place a bold bet
on the company, saying,

429
00:17:33.821 --> 00:17:35.656
"Hey, we think this
has a chance of being

430
00:17:35.691 --> 00:17:37.328
a billion-dollar-plus company."

431
00:17:37.726 --> 00:17:41.167
So, in late 2012,
I got an email from Paul Graham.

432
00:17:41.202 --> 00:17:44.566
It said, "Hey, Fred, we're ready
to do the Series-A in Coinbase.

433
00:17:44.601 --> 00:17:47.239
Can I introduce
you to Brian and Fred?"

434
00:17:47.274 --> 00:17:49.340
We were so burned out
and sleep deprived,

435
00:17:49.375 --> 00:17:51.144
we didn't really have
a slide deck or anything.

436
00:17:51.179 --> 00:17:54.147
And we basically said,
"Here's our revenue graph.

437
00:17:54.182 --> 00:17:56.446
We're using our working
capital to fund this

438
00:17:56.481 --> 00:17:58.151
and we're going to
run out of money

439
00:17:58.186 --> 00:17:59.647
in the next two weeks.
Do you want to invest?"

440
00:17:59.682 --> 00:18:01.616
In the super early days,

441
00:18:01.651 --> 00:18:04.718
Crypto company founders
were either scam artists

442
00:18:04.753 --> 00:18:07.490
or they were almost
like religious zealots.

443
00:18:07.888 --> 00:18:10.493
I meet Brian
and he explains to me,

444
00:18:10.528 --> 00:18:13.463
"I'm a former security
engineer at Airbnb.

445
00:18:13.828 --> 00:18:16.268
I know how to secure
crypto assets,

446
00:18:16.303 --> 00:18:18.237
we'll comply
with the regulations."

447
00:18:18.272 --> 00:18:20.272
And he just seemed pragmatic.

448
00:18:22.342 --> 00:18:24.672
All right. We're, uh,
uncapping the champagne.

449
00:18:24.707 --> 00:18:26.806
-We're just getting ready.
-What are we celebrating?

450
00:18:26.841 --> 00:18:28.841
We're celebrating, uh,

451
00:18:28.876 --> 00:18:31.580
the fact that
earlier this morning

452
00:18:31.615 --> 00:18:34.616
we, uh, checked our bank account
and it happened to have

453
00:18:34.651 --> 00:18:37.685
five million more dollars in it
than it did last night.

454
00:18:39.590 --> 00:18:40.655
That is accurate.

455
00:18:43.561 --> 00:18:44.923
-It didn't go.
-What?

456
00:18:47.763 --> 00:18:50.863
We briefly
took a adjournment

457
00:18:50.898 --> 00:18:53.404
from the monitors in the
office to go up to the roof

458
00:18:53.439 --> 00:18:54.504
and celebrate.

459
00:18:56.310 --> 00:18:58.343
-You want some?
-Yeah.

460
00:18:58.378 --> 00:19:00.378
<i>Kind of popped it</i>
<i>and we kind of drank it,</i>

461
00:19:00.413 --> 00:19:02.314
<i>mostly just spilled a lot</i>
<i>of champagne everywhere.</i>

462
00:19:02.349 --> 00:19:03.777
-Cheers.
-Cheers, boys.

463
00:19:03.812 --> 00:19:05.713
<i>But I remember</i>
<i>it was maybe two minutes</i>

464
00:19:05.748 --> 00:19:07.748
<i>and then it was like, "All</i>
<i>right, we got shit to do now."</i>

465
00:19:07.783 --> 00:19:09.354
Today we're talking
about Bitcoin

466
00:19:09.389 --> 00:19:11.356
and we're talking to the founder
and CEO of Coinbase.

467
00:19:11.391 --> 00:19:12.819
Coinbase's Brian Armstrong.

468
00:19:12.854 --> 00:19:15.228
Co-founder of Coinbase,
Fred Ehrsam.

469
00:19:15.263 --> 00:19:17.329
I'm really excited tonight
to, um, share with you

470
00:19:17.364 --> 00:19:18.429
a little bit about Coinbase.

471
00:19:18.464 --> 00:19:19.694
Okay, what is Bitcoin?

472
00:19:19.729 --> 00:19:20.827
What is Bitcoin?

473
00:19:20.862 --> 00:19:22.400
A digital currency

474
00:19:22.435 --> 00:19:24.600
without the need
for a central bank.

475
00:19:24.635 --> 00:19:26.272
-What is a Bitcoin?
-Yes.

476
00:19:26.307 --> 00:19:27.900
Same thing email has
done for communication,

477
00:19:27.935 --> 00:19:30.441
-Bitcoin is doing for money.
-It's quicker.

478
00:19:30.476 --> 00:19:31.673
It works everywhere
in the world.

479
00:19:31.708 --> 00:19:33.345
You don't buy bitcoin.

480
00:19:33.380 --> 00:19:35.644
No, you can. There are
currency traders online.

481
00:19:35.679 --> 00:19:37.316
Yeah, one bitcoin
is worth $3.

482
00:19:37.351 --> 00:19:39.879
We literally have our
parents try the product.

483
00:19:39.914 --> 00:19:41.617
Does it look like
a normal wallet?

484
00:19:41.652 --> 00:19:43.322
It's on your phone.

485
00:19:43.357 --> 00:19:44.653
So, instead of carrying
it in your back pocket--

486
00:19:44.688 --> 00:19:45.852
Yeah, let's see
what's in your wallet.

487
00:19:45.887 --> 00:19:47.524
It's kind of--

488
00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:49.020
I'm told that the, uh, protocol
was developed

489
00:19:49.055 --> 00:19:52.760
by a anonymous programmer,
Satoshi Nakamoto.

490
00:19:52.795 --> 00:19:54.465
You don't think
it was Al Gore, do you?

491
00:19:55.996 --> 00:19:57.402
Bitcoin's big day.

492
00:19:57.437 --> 00:19:58.898
The, uh, cryptocurrency's hit

493
00:19:58.933 --> 00:20:00.966
the $1,000 value mark.

494
00:20:01.001 --> 00:20:02.605
It was pretty remarkable.

495
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:04.871
The traffic on the site
would grow tenfold

496
00:20:04.906 --> 00:20:06.840
in a matter of a month or two.

497
00:20:06.875 --> 00:20:09.810
We felt like all hands on deck
just to keep everything running

498
00:20:09.845 --> 00:20:12.747
and we had to scale really fast,
we hired a ton of people.

499
00:20:12.782 --> 00:20:14.353
We almost 3Xed in headcount.

500
00:20:14.388 --> 00:20:15.651
You know,
it's the launch of the first

501
00:20:15.686 --> 00:20:17.785
US-based Bitcoin exchange.

502
00:20:17.820 --> 00:20:20.425
I think we're now the largest
exchange in the US by volume.

503
00:20:20.460 --> 00:20:22.361
-High five. Nice.
-Thank you.

504
00:20:22.396 --> 00:20:23.923
And it's like nothing
that I've ever experienced.

505
00:20:23.958 --> 00:20:25.496
You feel like you're at the
centre of the universe,

506
00:20:25.531 --> 00:20:26.959
you know?

507
00:20:26.994 --> 00:20:28.697
The price of bitcoin
went through $11,000.

508
00:20:28.732 --> 00:20:30.798
I could care less
what bitcoin trades for,

509
00:20:30.833 --> 00:20:32.536
how it trades,
why it trades,

510
00:20:32.571 --> 00:20:34.406
who trades it.
If you're stupid to buy,

511
00:20:34.441 --> 00:20:35.968
you'll pay the price
for it one day.

512
00:20:36.003 --> 00:20:39.411
Crypto is out there
and it's not going away.

513
00:20:39.446 --> 00:20:41.006
But the question is, can we take

514
00:20:41.041 --> 00:20:42.942
the same technology
behind Bitcoin

515
00:20:42.977 --> 00:20:45.076
and can we use it
for more than just money?

516
00:20:45.111 --> 00:20:47.353
That's basically
what Ethereum is.

517
00:20:47.388 --> 00:20:49.080
When Ethereum
first came out,

518
00:20:49.115 --> 00:20:51.555
Fred came to me and he was like,
"This actually is a big deal."

519
00:20:51.590 --> 00:20:54.085
We should go beyond
just being a Bitcoin company.

520
00:20:54.120 --> 00:20:55.790
We have to add Ethereum.

521
00:20:55.825 --> 00:20:57.330
Initially
I was a little sceptical,

522
00:20:57.365 --> 00:20:58.661
but I-- the more
I looked into it,

523
00:20:58.696 --> 00:20:59.728
the more I felt like
he was right.

524
00:20:59.763 --> 00:21:00.861
Our mission at Coinbase

525
00:21:00.896 --> 00:21:02.368
is to create an open

526
00:21:02.403 --> 00:21:03.666
financial
system for the world.

527
00:21:03.701 --> 00:21:04.964
Billions of people
have smartphones,

528
00:21:04.999 --> 00:21:06.636
but they don't have
a bank account.

529
00:21:06.671 --> 00:21:09.342
So, the cost of opening
a bank account is zero.

530
00:21:09.377 --> 00:21:11.608
Soon the world
is only going to buy

531
00:21:11.643 --> 00:21:13.577
and sell products
using bitcoins.

532
00:21:13.612 --> 00:21:15.480
Bitcoin has no
unique value at all.

533
00:21:15.515 --> 00:21:17.482
It doesn't produce anything.
You can stare at it all day

534
00:21:17.517 --> 00:21:19.748
and no little bitcoins come out
or anything like that.

535
00:21:19.783 --> 00:21:21.079
It's a delusion.

536
00:21:21.114 --> 00:21:22.619
I fundamentally believe
it is being used

537
00:21:22.654 --> 00:21:24.489
primarily for
illegal activities.

538
00:21:24.524 --> 00:21:25.952
<i> This is Silk Road.</i>

539
00:21:25.987 --> 00:21:28.460
It's an eBay for drugs
that use Bitcoin

540
00:21:28.495 --> 00:21:30.528
as the means of exchange.

541
00:21:30.563 --> 00:21:34.466
One of the biggest Bitcoin
exchanges called Mt. Gox,

542
00:21:34.501 --> 00:21:36.831
based in Tokyo, went bust.

543
00:21:36.866 --> 00:21:39.064
Calls into question
the future of Bitcoin.

544
00:21:39.099 --> 00:21:41.737
Mt. Gox got hacked
and, like, Bitcoin crashed

545
00:21:41.772 --> 00:21:44.641
and the media went away
and things cooled off.

546
00:21:44.676 --> 00:21:46.412
The numbers
are pretty eye-watering

547
00:21:46.447 --> 00:21:48.106
in terms of the scale of
the drop that we are seeing.

548
00:21:48.141 --> 00:21:49.976
Price of crypto have
been trending down.

549
00:21:50.011 --> 00:21:51.912
Our revenue is flat to down.

550
00:21:51.947 --> 00:21:55.113
A lot of our competitors decided
to pivot to do something else.

551
00:21:55.852 --> 00:21:57.786
We were getting to a place
where we felt like,

552
00:21:57.821 --> 00:21:59.425
if this doesn't
turn around soon,

553
00:21:59.460 --> 00:22:01.086
we're going to
have to do a lay-off.

554
00:22:01.121 --> 00:22:03.561
Did anyone read that article
about Bitcoin I sent you?

555
00:22:03.926 --> 00:22:05.431
At the end of 2017,
we started

556
00:22:05.466 --> 00:22:06.597
to see another crypto rally.

557
00:22:06.632 --> 00:22:08.093
Bitcoins are booming.

558
00:22:08.128 --> 00:22:10.029
Bitcoin broke another record.

559
00:22:10.064 --> 00:22:11.998
We are going through
this period of growth

560
00:22:12.033 --> 00:22:14.000
that is almost never seen.

561
00:22:14.035 --> 00:22:16.871
This started as two
people in an apartment

562
00:22:16.906 --> 00:22:20.545
and now we're discussing
global expansion.

563
00:22:20.580 --> 00:22:22.008
-The Wild West.
-It is.

564
00:22:22.043 --> 00:22:23.614
-It really is, you're like--
-Yeah.

565
00:22:23.649 --> 00:22:25.077
You're like a cowboy
in the Wild West.

566
00:22:25.112 --> 00:22:27.079
-Well, thanks, Brian.
-Thanks, Fred.

567
00:22:29.523 --> 00:22:32.656
Brian's a very
sort of calm, reserved,

568
00:22:32.691 --> 00:22:35.494
strategic, long-term thinker.

569
00:22:35.529 --> 00:22:38.629
And Fred's-- kind of was like--
want to mix it up, you know,

570
00:22:38.664 --> 00:22:40.763
constantly mixing it up.

571
00:22:40.798 --> 00:22:44.569
And of course, that combo
is what made things work.

572
00:22:44.604 --> 00:22:48.034
But there was a lot of
tension in the relationship.

573
00:22:48.905 --> 00:22:51.004
The closest parallel

574
00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:53.875
to having co-founders
is a marital relationship.

575
00:22:53.910 --> 00:22:55.877
You're spending a huge
amount of time together.

576
00:22:55.912 --> 00:22:58.143
Your economic futures
are conjoined.

577
00:22:58.178 --> 00:23:00.816
Uh, you have visions
about where you're going,

578
00:23:00.851 --> 00:23:02.719
where those visions, you're
always going to be working.

579
00:23:02.754 --> 00:23:04.556
They're never going
to be perfectly aligned.

580
00:23:06.989 --> 00:23:11.156
Brian and I met in August of
2013, and what he told me was,

581
00:23:11.191 --> 00:23:12.861
"I'm looking for a coach

582
00:23:12.896 --> 00:23:14.533
to take care of
the co-founder relationship."

583
00:23:15.228 --> 00:23:18.031
Fred and I had our first
difficult conversation.

584
00:23:18.066 --> 00:23:19.604
"Would you be willing
to meet with us?"

585
00:23:20.101 --> 00:23:21.606
I think co-founder
relationships are

586
00:23:21.641 --> 00:23:22.574
just like any
other relationship.

587
00:23:22.609 --> 00:23:23.971
They're all complicated

588
00:23:24.006 --> 00:23:25.203
and you have to keep
investing in them,

589
00:23:25.238 --> 00:23:27.007
like going to the gym.

590
00:23:27.042 --> 00:23:28.976
It's not like you just
do it once and you're done.

591
00:23:29.011 --> 00:23:32.485
Brian started sharing with me
a bit about what was going on,

592
00:23:32.520 --> 00:23:34.179
a conversation between them,

593
00:23:34.214 --> 00:23:36.753
and a couple minutes
into the session,

594
00:23:36.788 --> 00:23:39.855
I looked at Fred and I said,
"You don't want to be here."

595
00:23:40.627 --> 00:23:43.023
And his response was,
"No fucking way."

596
00:23:43.058 --> 00:23:45.762
Pejoratively, I viewed it
as armchair therapy.

597
00:23:45.797 --> 00:23:47.258
This is for weak people.

598
00:23:47.293 --> 00:23:48.864
I don't want my brain
reprogrammed this way.

599
00:23:49.669 --> 00:23:51.130
What Brian and Fred
needed to work out

600
00:23:51.165 --> 00:23:52.769
is at the end of the day,

601
00:23:52.804 --> 00:23:54.870
one of you is CEO
and one of you's not.

602
00:23:54.905 --> 00:23:58.907
And that's a difficult situation
for the non-CEO co-founder.

603
00:23:59.613 --> 00:24:01.646
Fred always wanted
to run the company

604
00:24:01.681 --> 00:24:04.044
and it was never
going to happen.

605
00:24:04.849 --> 00:24:07.949
Brian was and is
the CEO at Coinbase.

606
00:24:08.721 --> 00:24:10.787
I think he's done
a great job in that role,

607
00:24:10.822 --> 00:24:13.119
but ultimately, I think that
was a limiting factor for me.

608
00:24:13.154 --> 00:24:16.925
So, over time, I got
really excited about,

609
00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:20.192
um, I'm removing that
glass ceiling for myself

610
00:24:20.227 --> 00:24:23.030
and starting something where,

611
00:24:23.065 --> 00:24:25.736
uh, the sky was the limit
personally.

612
00:24:30.677 --> 00:24:32.941
Fred, he's kind
of a natural leader

613
00:24:32.976 --> 00:24:35.273
and he wasn't going to be
the CEO of Coinbase.

614
00:24:35.308 --> 00:24:37.242
I didn't want to
step down as CEO,

615
00:24:37.277 --> 00:24:40.949
and I was really sad to lose him

616
00:24:40.984 --> 00:24:43.248
because Fred and I
are kind of like brothers.

617
00:24:45.351 --> 00:24:47.560
Brian's one of my closest
friends in the world.

618
00:24:49.190 --> 00:24:50.728
Of course, it's emotional,

619
00:24:50.763 --> 00:24:53.896
but, um, I look back on that

620
00:24:53.931 --> 00:24:55.832
and-- and think we handled it
pretty well.

621
00:25:01.169 --> 00:25:02.938
I do feel emotions.

622
00:25:02.973 --> 00:25:04.940
I don't express them
the same way as other people.

623
00:25:06.306 --> 00:25:07.712
You know,
I probably have Asperger's,

624
00:25:07.747 --> 00:25:09.010
like, somewhere on the spectrum.

625
00:25:11.817 --> 00:25:14.686
When I left Coinbase,
I took some time off.

626
00:25:14.721 --> 00:25:16.149
I thought it was
really important

627
00:25:16.184 --> 00:25:19.691
to explore all the different
potential ideas

628
00:25:19.726 --> 00:25:22.122
I could try
and-- and venture into next.

629
00:25:26.832 --> 00:25:29.228
On to Bitcoin now.
The cryptocurrency kicked off

630
00:25:29.263 --> 00:25:30.867
the New Year by tumbling.

631
00:25:30.902 --> 00:25:32.638
It's down 50% from the record

632
00:25:32.673 --> 00:25:34.068
set just about a month ago.

633
00:25:34.103 --> 00:25:35.707
Bitcoin is going to collapse

634
00:25:35.742 --> 00:25:37.973
because Bitcoin itself
has no value.

635
00:25:38.008 --> 00:25:39.271
It's gonna come
caving in,

636
00:25:39.306 --> 00:25:40.745
it's-- it's almost
a guarantee.

637
00:25:50.889 --> 00:25:52.823
Let me actually do
the hard Q&A first.

638
00:25:52.858 --> 00:25:54.286
Okay, that's fine.

639
00:25:54.321 --> 00:25:55.760
I just
want you to really nail this.

640
00:25:55.795 --> 00:25:58.290
I want you to tell this audience

641
00:25:58.963 --> 00:26:00.930
what the heck
it's used for today.

642
00:26:01.801 --> 00:26:03.163
Can you-- can you buy stuff?

643
00:26:03.198 --> 00:26:04.901
Is it investment?

644
00:26:04.936 --> 00:26:06.936
It seems quite volatile.

645
00:26:06.971 --> 00:26:08.707
Please explain Bitcoin to us.

646
00:26:09.875 --> 00:26:11.336
Well, that was a lot, so, uh,

647
00:26:11.371 --> 00:26:13.008
I'll-- I'll try to start
at the beginning.

648
00:26:13.043 --> 00:26:15.780
Uh, cryptocurrency
is just digital money

649
00:26:15.815 --> 00:26:17.947
and that's the simplest
way to understand it.

650
00:26:17.982 --> 00:26:20.686
And people don't need to
understand all the technology,

651
00:26:20.721 --> 00:26:22.182
how it works underneath.
They're buying crypto

652
00:26:22.217 --> 00:26:23.953
because they wanna
own a little piece of it

653
00:26:23.988 --> 00:26:25.658
because they think it
might go up in the future.

654
00:26:25.693 --> 00:26:27.319
And really, there's just
a ton of potential

655
00:26:27.354 --> 00:26:29.629
about how it can evolve
in the next ten years.

656
00:26:30.159 --> 00:26:31.928
So, for that answer,

657
00:26:33.063 --> 00:26:34.293
start with Bitcoin.

658
00:26:35.032 --> 00:26:36.328
-Start pretty simply

659
00:26:36.363 --> 00:26:37.703
-with Bitcoin.
-Yeah.

660
00:26:38.806 --> 00:26:40.739
Brian, these days
when you talk about

661
00:26:40.774 --> 00:26:42.873
cryptocurrencies to laymen,

662
00:26:42.908 --> 00:26:45.777
how quickly do people's
eyes glaze over?

663
00:26:47.110 --> 00:26:48.813
It's kind of this
mind-bending thing

664
00:26:48.848 --> 00:26:50.683
when you first read about it,
uh,

665
00:26:50.718 --> 00:26:52.718
that takes people a little while
to wrap their head around.

666
00:26:52.753 --> 00:26:54.918
The short explanation
I give to people,

667
00:26:54.953 --> 00:26:56.722
I say, "This is digital money."

668
00:26:56.757 --> 00:26:58.251
And instead of for moving
information around

669
00:26:58.286 --> 00:27:00.385
like the Internet,
this is for moving value around.

670
00:27:00.420 --> 00:27:02.288
So, what effect
do the crypto scandals

671
00:27:02.323 --> 00:27:03.927
have on what
you're trying to do?

672
00:27:03.962 --> 00:27:05.126
Whenever a new technology
gets created,

673
00:27:05.161 --> 00:27:07.161
it can be used for good or bad.

674
00:27:07.196 --> 00:27:08.899
It's kind of the Wild West.

675
00:27:08.934 --> 00:27:10.901
And so, um, that's been--
I feel like our role

676
00:27:10.936 --> 00:27:12.969
is to be hopefully
an adult in the room

677
00:27:13.004 --> 00:27:15.774
and go proactively
seek out, uh, regulators

678
00:27:15.809 --> 00:27:18.744
and see how we can create, um,
a more trusted environment.

679
00:27:18.779 --> 00:27:22.209
So, you've been described
as a Vulcan Swiss banker.

680
00:27:22.244 --> 00:27:24.409
I haven't heard
that one in a while.

681
00:27:24.444 --> 00:27:27.148
I didn't quite know what
that meant, uh, when I read it.

682
00:27:27.183 --> 00:27:28.754
It's sort of inscrutable and,

683
00:27:28.789 --> 00:27:30.184
you know,
hard to get information out of.

684
00:27:30.219 --> 00:27:32.989
But actually, I find you
quite charming and open.

685
00:27:33.024 --> 00:27:35.255
Is-- is this the-- the new
Brian Armstrong?

686
00:27:35.290 --> 00:27:37.422
Um...

687
00:27:37.457 --> 00:27:39.127
Well, I was a software
engineer, right?

688
00:27:39.162 --> 00:27:41.063
I had never managed anybody.

689
00:27:41.098 --> 00:27:43.263
And when you-- when you go make
something and then suddenly it's

690
00:27:43.298 --> 00:27:45.397
like, "Oh, shoot, I need to
figure out how to be a CEO,"

691
00:27:45.432 --> 00:27:47.905
right? I'm trying to find
my voice as CEO.

692
00:27:47.940 --> 00:27:49.775
But, you know,

693
00:27:49.810 --> 00:27:51.436
I'm-- I'm hopefully becoming
a little more comfortable

694
00:27:51.471 --> 00:27:53.845
in my own skin and, um, I
think- I think- we got along

695
00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:55.242
-pretty well, Bill.
-Yeah. Great to meet you.

696
00:27:55.277 --> 00:27:57.145
And, uh, we'll carry on.

697
00:28:09.192 --> 00:28:10.928
Part of me actually
really doesn't like the idea

698
00:28:10.963 --> 00:28:12.391
of being a public figure

699
00:28:12.426 --> 00:28:14.096
because I feel like
it's so risky.

700
00:28:14.131 --> 00:28:16.296
People treat you weird,
in weird ways

701
00:28:16.331 --> 00:28:19.398
and, um, you know, you could
slip up and say the wrong

702
00:28:19.433 --> 00:28:20.938
thing and just be--

703
00:28:20.973 --> 00:28:22.467
The angry mob
will come after you.

704
00:28:22.502 --> 00:28:24.106
I've been getting
all this advice that's like,

705
00:28:24.141 --> 00:28:25.877
"Well, crypto needs
a face of the industry.

706
00:28:25.912 --> 00:28:26.977
-Maybe you can be it."
-Yeah!

707
00:28:27.012 --> 00:28:28.341
And it's like, oh!

708
00:28:28.376 --> 00:28:29.947
-The--
-It's-- I'm-- I'm like a relu

709
00:28:29.982 --> 00:28:32.345
I'm, like, reluctantly
trying it out,

710
00:28:32.380 --> 00:28:33.511
we'll see how it goes.

711
00:28:35.317 --> 00:28:38.824
To be a successful entrepreneur,
it's very difficult

712
00:28:39.486 --> 00:28:42.421
to not develop the skills
of an extrovert.

713
00:28:43.831 --> 00:28:45.930
They might be introverts,
naturally,

714
00:28:45.965 --> 00:28:47.558
but they figure out a way to be

715
00:28:47.593 --> 00:28:50.066
very extroverted when it comes
to their stakeholders.

716
00:28:51.135 --> 00:28:53.069
They say, "The meek
will inherit the earth."

717
00:28:53.500 --> 00:28:55.368
They're not going
to inherit the Nasdaq.

718
00:28:59.913 --> 00:29:01.242
I remember
seeing other CEOs

719
00:29:01.277 --> 00:29:02.881
and I would
always be so impressed.

720
00:29:02.916 --> 00:29:04.212
I was like,
"Man, they're so confident.

721
00:29:04.247 --> 00:29:06.016
And that doesn't
look anything like me."

722
00:29:08.383 --> 00:29:09.855
While Fred was at the company,

723
00:29:09.890 --> 00:29:11.153
a lot of the decisions
were made.

724
00:29:11.188 --> 00:29:12.385
Just Fred and I
would get in a room,

725
00:29:12.420 --> 00:29:13.551
hash out all the options,

726
00:29:13.586 --> 00:29:14.926
choose the least bad one
and move forward.

727
00:29:15.995 --> 00:29:18.127
When he left, I was feeling
a little overwhelmed

728
00:29:18.162 --> 00:29:19.293
running the whole thing.

729
00:29:19.933 --> 00:29:21.361
You can feel like

730
00:29:21.396 --> 00:29:22.901
your identity is wrapped up
in this thing,

731
00:29:22.936 --> 00:29:24.529
and so if it fails, I've failed.

732
00:29:25.268 --> 00:29:27.004
Now I'm questioning, it's like,
"What does it even mean

733
00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:28.302
for me to build something?

734
00:29:28.337 --> 00:29:29.842
I'm not writing
the code any more.

735
00:29:29.877 --> 00:29:31.503
I haven't written a code
in five years.

736
00:29:31.538 --> 00:29:33.109
-Um--
-Do you enjoy it?

737
00:29:33.144 --> 00:29:35.243
-Um--
-What do you love?

738
00:29:35.278 --> 00:29:37.080
Forgetting everything
that is today--

739
00:29:37.115 --> 00:29:38.851
-Yeah.
-that you-- that you've done

740
00:29:38.886 --> 00:29:41.513
already in your life,
what did you love doing?

741
00:29:42.989 --> 00:29:45.286
I like just coming up
with an idea for something

742
00:29:45.321 --> 00:29:48.586
and-- and going and making it
exist in the world.

743
00:29:48.621 --> 00:29:50.555
We live
in an extroverted world.

744
00:29:50.590 --> 00:29:54.625
Most introverts feel like they
don't fit in because of that.

745
00:29:54.660 --> 00:29:56.330
Introverts now,

746
00:29:56.365 --> 00:29:58.299
I think, are forming majority
of tech leaders

747
00:29:58.334 --> 00:30:00.070
in Silicon Valley

748
00:30:00.105 --> 00:30:03.007
because, of course, most
tech leaders are themselves

749
00:30:03.042 --> 00:30:04.503
world class programmers.

750
00:30:04.538 --> 00:30:06.945
And you don't become
a world class programmer

751
00:30:06.980 --> 00:30:08.914
unless you start young

752
00:30:08.949 --> 00:30:11.345
and spend a fairly significant
amount of time on the machine,

753
00:30:11.380 --> 00:30:13.611
which means not interacting
with other humans.

754
00:30:13.646 --> 00:30:18.154
The elephant in the room is that
you don't love to manage people,

755
00:30:18.189 --> 00:30:21.520
and my prediction, therefore,
is that you're not good at it.

756
00:30:21.555 --> 00:30:22.928
Now I'd like you to go.

757
00:30:22.963 --> 00:30:24.490
I want you to go Cro-Magnon,

758
00:30:24.525 --> 00:30:26.459
whether you think
you're Cro-Magnon or not.

759
00:30:26.494 --> 00:30:28.230
-Wow.
-Doesn't matter.

760
00:30:28.265 --> 00:30:31.002
-Okay.
-And the structure of "I blame"

761
00:30:31.037 --> 00:30:33.400
-forces you to go Cro-Magnon.
-Okay.

762
00:30:33.435 --> 00:30:38.042
Matt, I-- I blame you for, um,

763
00:30:38.077 --> 00:30:40.374
being so persistent on this

764
00:30:40.409 --> 00:30:43.377
and not letting it un-- unfold
naturally.

765
00:30:43.412 --> 00:30:45.016
Every time we meet,
we have to talk about

766
00:30:45.051 --> 00:30:46.512
the same Goddamn issue.

767
00:30:46.547 --> 00:30:49.350
And we've been over
this a million times.

768
00:30:49.385 --> 00:30:50.989
Just like,
let me do my own thing.

769
00:30:51.024 --> 00:30:53.156
Awesome.
Who else can you blame?

770
00:30:53.191 --> 00:30:55.554
Um, yeah, I blame myself,
too,

771
00:30:55.589 --> 00:30:58.964
for trying to hold onto this
thing that I'm not great at

772
00:30:58.999 --> 00:31:02.231
and, um, isn't bringing me--
it isn't raising my energy.

773
00:31:02.266 --> 00:31:05.201
Are you willing to sort of see
how these are crazy thoughts,

774
00:31:05.236 --> 00:31:07.533
you blaming yourself
and you blaming other people?

775
00:31:07.568 --> 00:31:09.337
-Yeah.
-That no one's a villain here.

776
00:31:09.372 --> 00:31:10.701
-Yeah.
-They're all just people that

777
00:31:10.736 --> 00:31:12.142
are trying to do their best.

778
00:31:12.177 --> 00:31:13.539
-Yeah.
-Right on.

779
00:31:15.081 --> 00:31:16.509
Awesome.

780
00:31:16.544 --> 00:31:18.280
<i>If I can share</i>
<i>a thought with him,</i>

781
00:31:18.315 --> 00:31:20.612
<i>like Brian, you're completely</i>

782
00:31:20.647 --> 00:31:22.680
<i>fucking up your role as CEO,</i>

783
00:31:22.715 --> 00:31:25.122
and here's what
I recommend you do.

784
00:31:25.157 --> 00:31:28.686
And with almost any other person
the-- their ego would go, "What?

785
00:31:28.721 --> 00:31:32.998
How dare you
say such a thing to me?

786
00:31:33.033 --> 00:31:35.495
I am all powerful."

787
00:31:35.530 --> 00:31:39.268
And with Brian, a big smile
comes over on his face.

788
00:31:39.303 --> 00:31:42.007
And the first thing
he says is, "Thank you."

789
00:31:43.241 --> 00:31:46.308
Because all he cares
about is improving

790
00:31:46.706 --> 00:31:50.411
and therefore feedback
is the most precious gift

791
00:31:50.446 --> 00:31:51.742
that he can receive.

792
00:31:51.777 --> 00:31:53.678
Because of how
fast we're growing,

793
00:31:53.713 --> 00:31:57.550
the dynamics of trust within the
company change really quickly.

794
00:31:57.585 --> 00:31:59.123
Not too far before I joined,

795
00:31:59.158 --> 00:32:00.619
it was like this level
of assumed best

796
00:32:00.654 --> 00:32:02.555
because we were, like,
fewer than 150 people.

797
00:32:02.590 --> 00:32:04.392
We all kind of know each other,

798
00:32:04.427 --> 00:32:08.660
um, and pretty quickly we move
far beyond that number

799
00:32:08.695 --> 00:32:11.729
and there isn't the same sort of
assumed trust between employees.

800
00:32:11.764 --> 00:32:14.138
Yeah, I agree.
At 150 people,

801
00:32:14.173 --> 00:32:18.142
I can keep in my mind everything
we're basically working on

802
00:32:18.177 --> 00:32:21.112
and who everybody is
and their name and what they do.

803
00:32:21.147 --> 00:32:24.610
And past 150, it's like, that's
even difficult to keep track of.

804
00:32:24.645 --> 00:32:27.085
And occasionally,
you'll pop into some meeting

805
00:32:27.120 --> 00:32:28.416
to hear a status update,

806
00:32:28.451 --> 00:32:29.648
and you're like,
"That's happening

807
00:32:29.683 --> 00:32:31.056
in the company I created?"

808
00:32:31.091 --> 00:32:32.651
And, like, I can't believe it.

809
00:32:32.686 --> 00:32:34.686
<i>We're about 800 employees now</i>

810
00:32:34.721 --> 00:32:38.228
<i>and we're learning how to</i>
<i>operate at this larger scale.</i>

811
00:32:38.263 --> 00:32:40.065
<i>You're never going</i>
<i>to retain great talent</i>

812
00:32:40.100 --> 00:32:41.627
<i>if you don't treat</i>
<i>them with respect</i>

813
00:32:41.662 --> 00:32:43.134
<i>and give them opportunities</i>
<i>for growth.</i>

814
00:32:43.169 --> 00:32:44.630
And also top people,
they don't want

815
00:32:44.665 --> 00:32:46.203
to come work at companies

816
00:32:46.568 --> 00:32:49.140
unless they have some
mission or purpose

817
00:32:49.175 --> 00:32:51.505
that's bigger
than just making money.

818
00:32:52.607 --> 00:32:54.508
Looking at the event
object and just printing out

819
00:32:54.543 --> 00:32:56.279
everything that it has...

820
00:32:56.314 --> 00:32:59.315
It feels like I could be
building the infrastructure

821
00:32:59.350 --> 00:33:01.680
for the future
of the financial industry.

822
00:33:01.715 --> 00:33:04.056
Democratizing
money is a huge deal.

823
00:33:04.091 --> 00:33:06.157
So, as soon as I read
the Bitcoin Whitepaper,

824
00:33:06.192 --> 00:33:08.522
I was immediately like,
"Yes, I have to do this."

825
00:33:08.557 --> 00:33:10.788
I work on key storage,
but it's all designed.

826
00:33:10.823 --> 00:33:13.494
So, like, especially
I can't take the key.

827
00:33:13.529 --> 00:33:14.792
I mean,
I like to think of myself

828
00:33:14.827 --> 00:33:16.563
as, like,
a blue-collar engineer.

829
00:33:16.598 --> 00:33:18.730
I'm here less about,
like, speculating on cryptos

830
00:33:18.765 --> 00:33:21.337
and more because there's
cool problems to work on.

831
00:33:21.372 --> 00:33:23.702
A lot of the people in crypto

832
00:33:23.737 --> 00:33:26.540
grew up during
the 2008 financial crisis.

833
00:33:26.575 --> 00:33:28.377
I grew up seeing
my neighbourhoods

834
00:33:28.412 --> 00:33:30.148
being decimated by foreclosures

835
00:33:30.183 --> 00:33:32.645
and family members
losing their houses and jobs.

836
00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:35.285
So, I don't trust banks.

837
00:33:36.123 --> 00:33:40.224
A bank is a
testament to a belief system.

838
00:33:40.259 --> 00:33:43.425
You trust that the bank
will take care of your cash,

839
00:33:43.460 --> 00:33:45.163
but you also trust

840
00:33:45.198 --> 00:33:48.694
in the overall financial
system that it represents.

841
00:33:48.729 --> 00:33:51.433
And in so many towns
and villages and cities,

842
00:33:51.468 --> 00:33:55.866
the major buildings for a long
time were banks and churches.

843
00:33:55.901 --> 00:33:59.111
The idea of the bank was to be

844
00:33:59.146 --> 00:34:01.179
the place that protected
your money

845
00:34:01.214 --> 00:34:03.445
and everything about
the architecture

846
00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:06.613
was intended to make you feel
that your money was safe.

847
00:34:06.648 --> 00:34:09.616
The banks made that impressive
architecture in part

848
00:34:09.651 --> 00:34:12.190
because that's the psychological
game of, like,

849
00:34:12.225 --> 00:34:14.456
making people feel
like they can trust them.

850
00:34:14.491 --> 00:34:16.161
And so, you know,

851
00:34:16.196 --> 00:34:17.723
if you have the impressive
columns and like,

852
00:34:17.758 --> 00:34:19.527
"Oh, look, you know,
this is like the Acropolis,

853
00:34:19.562 --> 00:34:21.298
come on, like, this bank
is totally going to last

854
00:34:21.333 --> 00:34:22.431
2,000 years."

855
00:34:26.503 --> 00:34:28.536
Let me just try to paint
a picture of what

856
00:34:29.308 --> 00:34:31.638
a bank would look like

857
00:34:31.673 --> 00:34:33.277
if it were decentralized,

858
00:34:33.312 --> 00:34:34.905
because a bank
is a centralized thing.

859
00:34:34.940 --> 00:34:36.742
They have your account balance,

860
00:34:36.777 --> 00:34:39.184
their power over you
and everyone

861
00:34:39.219 --> 00:34:41.681
drives from
their exclusive access

862
00:34:41.716 --> 00:34:43.419
to those account balances.

863
00:34:43.916 --> 00:34:45.751
But there's a different way

864
00:34:45.786 --> 00:34:47.687
to organize those
account balances

865
00:34:47.722 --> 00:34:51.559
where each of, say,
a thousand computers

866
00:34:51.594 --> 00:34:54.529
has a copy of those
account balances.

867
00:34:54.564 --> 00:34:58.236
If they then agree
on each change

868
00:34:58.271 --> 00:35:00.931
because they see
a digital signature

869
00:35:00.966 --> 00:35:02.471
by the account owners,

870
00:35:02.506 --> 00:35:04.605
they can move money
from my account

871
00:35:04.640 --> 00:35:06.409
and a majority of them agree

872
00:35:06.444 --> 00:35:10.611
it will always be a consistent
set of account balances.

873
00:35:10.646 --> 00:35:12.547
So, it's a beautiful thing.

874
00:35:12.582 --> 00:35:14.879
Part of the genius
thing about Bitcoin is

875
00:35:14.914 --> 00:35:17.750
you don't have to trust
any one person.

876
00:35:17.785 --> 00:35:19.521
There is no one
person in charge.

877
00:35:19.556 --> 00:35:21.424
Nobody runs Bitcoin.

878
00:35:21.459 --> 00:35:23.690
Nobody is the boss
of Bitcoin, right?

879
00:35:23.725 --> 00:35:25.692
The code is what
you're trusting.

880
00:35:25.727 --> 00:35:28.596
So, it doesn't matter
who Satoshi Nakamoto is,

881
00:35:28.631 --> 00:35:30.400
it doesn't matter at all.

882
00:35:30.435 --> 00:35:33.304
You don't have to trust
Satoshi Nakamoto to use Bitcoin.

883
00:35:33.339 --> 00:35:35.471
You just have to trust the code.

884
00:35:35.506 --> 00:35:37.506
If you think about the history
of financial scandals

885
00:35:37.541 --> 00:35:40.707
recently, the London Whale
trade, the mortgage crisis,

886
00:35:40.742 --> 00:35:42.610
things like that,

887
00:35:42.645 --> 00:35:45.250
all of those things at some
level were examples of where

888
00:35:45.285 --> 00:35:47.879
human-trusted parties
are fallible

889
00:35:47.914 --> 00:35:50.255
or-- or even potentially
criminal.

890
00:35:50.290 --> 00:35:51.850
But technology is technology.

891
00:35:51.885 --> 00:35:53.984
It-- it isn't criminal.
It has no motive.

892
00:35:54.019 --> 00:35:55.722
It's not looking
to make more money.

893
00:35:55.757 --> 00:35:57.394
It just balances accounts.

894
00:35:57.429 --> 00:35:59.396
That's why crypto
ultimately is solving

895
00:35:59.431 --> 00:36:01.728
a-- a thousand-year
financial problem

896
00:36:01.763 --> 00:36:04.797
and it will supply the trust
that has been lacking.

897
00:36:04.832 --> 00:36:07.305
Oh, my god.
Donut Day.

898
00:36:08.033 --> 00:36:09.472
We're here
highlighting different features

899
00:36:09.507 --> 00:36:10.935
and products to figure out ways

900
00:36:10.970 --> 00:36:12.871
to actually use cryptocurrencies

901
00:36:12.906 --> 00:36:15.247
to buy, like, day-to-day items
such as donuts and burritos.

902
00:36:15.282 --> 00:36:16.941
My personal favourites.

903
00:36:16.976 --> 00:36:18.811
I'm so glad you guys are
doing these dogfooding sessions.

904
00:36:18.846 --> 00:36:20.483
The reason it's
called a dogfooding event

905
00:36:20.518 --> 00:36:22.012
is the idea that when
you're trying to, like,

906
00:36:22.047 --> 00:36:24.454
teach your dog new things,
you give it treats.

907
00:36:24.489 --> 00:36:26.456
You're basically
incentivizing people

908
00:36:26.491 --> 00:36:29.426
to try out this new product that
we are going to launch tomorrow.

909
00:36:29.461 --> 00:36:33.727
That's weird. I can't use
my, um, USD coin as payment

910
00:36:33.762 --> 00:36:35.564
to instantly buy.

911
00:36:35.599 --> 00:36:37.269
-You have to do a conversion.
-Yeah, conversion.

912
00:36:37.304 --> 00:36:38.369
That's a fail.

913
00:36:38.833 --> 00:36:40.998
Where's my--
Where's the consumer team?

914
00:36:42.342 --> 00:36:43.803
Awaiting payments.

915
00:36:43.838 --> 00:36:47.576
-Actually I sent-- Hmm.
-So, it says pending?

916
00:36:47.611 --> 00:36:49.611
Yeah, it should take
a little bit of time,

917
00:36:49.646 --> 00:36:51.547
this is from the consumer app.

918
00:36:51.582 --> 00:36:53.846
This is one of the things I want
to try to instrument this here

919
00:36:53.881 --> 00:36:58.290
that's like end-to-end, what is
our average time from a person,

920
00:36:58.325 --> 00:37:00.952
like, pulling out their phone
to seeing a green check box?

921
00:37:00.987 --> 00:37:02.657
-Hi, Brian.
-Hey, how's it going?

922
00:37:02.692 --> 00:37:04.395
-I'm Marilyn. Just joined.
-Good to meet you.

923
00:37:04.430 --> 00:37:05.561
-Oh, nice. Which--
-Compliance.

924
00:37:05.596 --> 00:37:07.464
Compliance? Welcome to the team.

925
00:37:07.499 --> 00:37:08.960
-When Bitcoin came out it was--
-You got excited about it?

926
00:37:08.995 --> 00:37:11.402
Oh, my God,
this can change the world.

927
00:37:11.437 --> 00:37:13.371
-Yeah.
-And, uh, but, uh, yeah.

928
00:37:13.406 --> 00:37:15.373
I-- I thought by now we would be
mainstream.

929
00:37:15.408 --> 00:37:16.968
-Yeah, well, this is--
-And, uh...

930
00:37:17.003 --> 00:37:18.706
This is why I want
to do stuff like this,

931
00:37:18.741 --> 00:37:20.378
'cause for it to be mainstream,

932
00:37:20.413 --> 00:37:22.006
we have to iron out
all these little bugs.

933
00:37:22.041 --> 00:37:23.546
All right, good stuff, guys.

934
00:37:23.581 --> 00:37:24.943
I'll send in my feedback,

935
00:37:24.978 --> 00:37:26.648
-but this is really good.
-Thanks, Brian.

936
00:37:26.683 --> 00:37:28.452
Yeah, cheers.

937
00:37:28.487 --> 00:37:30.355
Even something as simple
as the credit card,

938
00:37:30.390 --> 00:37:31.851
when it was first created,

939
00:37:31.886 --> 00:37:33.820
no one knew how to use it.

940
00:37:33.855 --> 00:37:35.921
When you walk up to the store,
do you give it with one hand?

941
00:37:35.956 --> 00:37:37.626
Do you give it with two hands?

942
00:37:37.661 --> 00:37:39.595
We had to learn
how to do all of those things

943
00:37:39.630 --> 00:37:41.498
and the same thing
is true of crypto.

944
00:37:41.533 --> 00:37:43.731
It doesn't feel native
to a lot of people today.

945
00:37:43.766 --> 00:37:48.802
In order to actually get
to mainstream adoption,

946
00:37:48.837 --> 00:37:51.068
we have to demystify this space.

947
00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:53.477
All right,
we're live on YouTube.

948
00:37:53.512 --> 00:37:56.348
Hey, everyone.
I'm here with Sam McIngvale.

949
00:37:56.383 --> 00:37:57.976
We've had a lot of good
questions from the community.

950
00:37:58.011 --> 00:38:00.418
"What is the next level
in, quote, 'trust'?

951
00:38:00.453 --> 00:38:03.520
To become the most trusted is
a low bar in digital currency."

952
00:38:03.555 --> 00:38:05.522
I would push back
a little bit on that

953
00:38:05.557 --> 00:38:07.524
"Trust is a low bar
in digital currency."

954
00:38:07.559 --> 00:38:09.592
Having seen firsthand
how much effort

955
00:38:09.627 --> 00:38:11.594
goes into securing
digital assets,

956
00:38:11.629 --> 00:38:13.464
it's incredible. I mean,
it is a level of investment

957
00:38:13.499 --> 00:38:15.059
that, uh, is actually
unparalleled

958
00:38:15.094 --> 00:38:16.566
in any other asset class.

959
00:38:16.601 --> 00:38:17.996
And then how
do you build trust?

960
00:38:18.031 --> 00:38:19.404
Trust, I mentioned
this briefly earlier,

961
00:38:19.439 --> 00:38:21.032
to me, it's track record.

962
00:38:21.067 --> 00:38:23.606
Many banks have existed
for well over a hundred years.

963
00:38:23.641 --> 00:38:26.675
I mean, Wells Fargo's logo
is people coming west,

964
00:38:26.710 --> 00:38:28.545
you know, in the late 1800s.

965
00:38:28.580 --> 00:38:32.516
Um, it's going to take some time
for trust to really build.

966
00:38:32.551 --> 00:38:34.386
Trust is like this reservoir.

967
00:38:34.421 --> 00:38:36.146
You know, you can-- Every
little action that you take,

968
00:38:36.181 --> 00:38:38.852
you can put a little bit into
the reservoir and bank it up.

969
00:38:38.887 --> 00:38:40.150
And then,
you know, if something--

970
00:38:40.185 --> 00:38:42.119
You make a mistake, you can--

971
00:38:42.154 --> 00:38:44.055
you might have to make a little
withdrawal of that reservoir.

972
00:38:44.090 --> 00:38:46.959
Um, so, I-- I'd like to think
we're putting those in-- in

973
00:38:46.994 --> 00:38:49.093
there so that if we ever do make
a mistake, at some point,

974
00:38:49.128 --> 00:38:51.535
we can come back and fix it
and people will kind of give us

975
00:38:51.570 --> 00:38:52.767
the benefit of the doubt.

976
00:39:01.943 --> 00:39:04.141
People are mad.

977
00:39:04.176 --> 00:39:06.550
Delete Coinbase
is a movement that

978
00:39:06.585 --> 00:39:09.652
just started recently
after the acquisition

979
00:39:09.687 --> 00:39:11.753
of Neutrino by Coinbase.

980
00:39:11.788 --> 00:39:13.887
Neutrino is a, we'll say,

981
00:39:13.922 --> 00:39:16.923
controversial blockchain
analytics company.

982
00:39:18.025 --> 00:39:19.893
Coinbase acquired Neutrino,

983
00:39:19.928 --> 00:39:22.093
which was a group of people
from Hacking Team,

984
00:39:22.128 --> 00:39:23.732
which was an organization

985
00:39:23.767 --> 00:39:26.097
that used to, like,
work for dictators

986
00:39:26.132 --> 00:39:27.637
to hunt down dissidents.

987
00:39:27.672 --> 00:39:29.672
Hacking Team are responsible

988
00:39:29.707 --> 00:39:32.642
for selling spyware
to oppressive governments.

989
00:39:32.677 --> 00:39:34.545
I have to talk to
you about Hacking Team.

990
00:39:34.580 --> 00:39:35.975
It's a really--
I know it's a tough one

991
00:39:36.010 --> 00:39:37.812
-Yeah.
-and you've taken a lot of,

992
00:39:37.847 --> 00:39:40.177
I-- I think, well-deserved
criticism for this one.

993
00:39:40.212 --> 00:39:42.146
It's definitely a-- an area
where we made a mistake.

994
00:39:42.181 --> 00:39:44.181
We went on and did some
diligence on the team,

995
00:39:44.216 --> 00:39:48.526
but most of our diligence was
around the technology itself.

996
00:39:48.561 --> 00:39:50.154
What we failed to do
was the diligence

997
00:39:50.189 --> 00:39:52.662
that was kind of
more around, um, our values

998
00:39:52.697 --> 00:39:54.961
and our culture
and-- and that kind of thing.

999
00:39:54.996 --> 00:39:57.535
So, when we did
make the acquisition,

1000
00:39:57.570 --> 00:39:59.229
we started to see
a lot of noise online

1001
00:39:59.264 --> 00:40:00.769
about people saying,
"Hey, do you know--

1002
00:40:00.804 --> 00:40:01.935
do you know
who you just acquired?"

1003
00:40:03.576 --> 00:40:05.477
<i>While we looked hard</i>
<i>at the technology</i>

1004
00:40:05.512 --> 00:40:07.039
<i>and the security</i>
<i>of the Neutrino products,</i>

1005
00:40:07.074 --> 00:40:08.777
<i>we did not properly</i>
<i>evaluate everything</i>

1006
00:40:08.812 --> 00:40:10.482
<i>from the perspective</i>
<i>of our mission</i>

1007
00:40:10.517 --> 00:40:12.077
<i>and our values</i>
<i>of the crypto company.</i>

1008
00:40:12.112 --> 00:40:13.815
<i>We took some time</i>
<i>to dig further into this</i>

1009
00:40:13.850 --> 00:40:15.245
<i>and together with</i>
<i>the Neutrino team</i>

1010
00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:17.016
<i>have come to an agreement.</i>

1011
00:40:17.051 --> 00:40:18.886
<i>Those who previously worked</i>
<i>at Hacking Team</i>

1012
00:40:18.921 --> 00:40:20.888
<i>will transition out of Coinbase.</i>

1013
00:40:20.923 --> 00:40:23.627
If your due
diligence fails on this,

1014
00:40:23.662 --> 00:40:26.157
how are people meant to
trust you with the privacy

1015
00:40:26.192 --> 00:40:29.094
related to their
purchase of bitcoin?

1016
00:40:29.129 --> 00:40:31.261
Yeah, there-- there's really no
excuse I can give you.

1017
00:40:31.296 --> 00:40:34.000
So, all I can tell you is that
we make mistakes as well.

1018
00:40:34.035 --> 00:40:37.476
And, um, a lot of
building a company is like

1019
00:40:37.841 --> 00:40:39.775
trying to learn
from the mistakes

1020
00:40:39.810 --> 00:40:41.579
and just get better over time.

1021
00:40:41.614 --> 00:40:44.648
If you don't have the ability
to be beaned in the face

1022
00:40:44.683 --> 00:40:46.078
and then get up

1023
00:40:46.113 --> 00:40:48.245
and, you know,
blood spewing everywhere,

1024
00:40:48.280 --> 00:40:50.951
get back to the plate
and try and swing harder,

1025
00:40:50.986 --> 00:40:53.019
you know, you're not meant
to be an entrepreneur.

1026
00:40:53.054 --> 00:40:54.526
All right, sorry I'm late.

1027
00:40:54.561 --> 00:40:56.121
<i>It's easier to consume content</i>

1028
00:40:56.156 --> 00:40:57.859
<i>when it's in sort of</i>
<i>a template, you know?</i>

1029
00:40:57.894 --> 00:40:59.531
<i>So, I was almost imagining</i>

1030
00:40:59.566 --> 00:41:00.928
<i>we could get this down</i>
<i>to three slides.</i>

1031
00:41:00.963 --> 00:41:02.666
I mean, I'm going to
be nit-picky here,

1032
00:41:02.701 --> 00:41:03.931
but let's just kill
all the text.

1033
00:41:03.966 --> 00:41:05.537
That'd be my
default solution.

1034
00:41:05.572 --> 00:41:07.066
I think sometime
next week you should see

1035
00:41:07.101 --> 00:41:09.035
a new version ship
that'll be much more stable.

1036
00:41:09.070 --> 00:41:10.905
This is really cool,
I'm glad that we're doing

1037
00:41:10.940 --> 00:41:12.940
such extensive user testing.

1038
00:41:12.975 --> 00:41:14.678
'Cause, like, if we're actually
gonna get a hundred million

1039
00:41:14.713 --> 00:41:16.075
people or a billion people
using this thing,

1040
00:41:16.110 --> 00:41:17.978
it's like-- it's got to be
way simpler.

1041
00:41:18.013 --> 00:41:19.749
-Absolutely.
-Yeah.

1042
00:41:19.784 --> 00:41:22.180
We're kind of caught in,
I think, an inflection point

1043
00:41:22.215 --> 00:41:24.281
where we have to be
eyes wide open about

1044
00:41:24.316 --> 00:41:25.986
what really is gonna
resonate with people?

1045
00:41:26.021 --> 00:41:28.791
Well, and crypto is
just not understood.

1046
00:41:28.826 --> 00:41:31.057
I think people tell themselves
that's not for me.

1047
00:41:31.092 --> 00:41:32.597
A few things need to happen

1048
00:41:32.632 --> 00:41:34.698
for Bitcoin to become
more mainstream.

1049
00:41:34.733 --> 00:41:37.833
We need to drive real world
utility of Bitcoin because

1050
00:41:37.868 --> 00:41:42.673
um, today people are speculating
on the eventual uses of it

1051
00:41:42.708 --> 00:41:44.807
and they're, like, this is going
to be, you know,

1052
00:41:44.842 --> 00:41:46.204
the future of the entire
Internet economy

1053
00:41:46.239 --> 00:41:47.909
or it's going to be useless.

1054
00:41:47.944 --> 00:41:49.944
And they-- they hav--
They oscillate

1055
00:41:49.979 --> 00:41:52.342
between irrational
exuberance and despair.

1056
00:41:52.377 --> 00:41:54.916
Cryptocurrencies
went on a wild ride today,

1057
00:41:54.951 --> 00:41:56.588
wiping out recent gains.

1058
00:41:56.623 --> 00:41:58.755
Bitcoin has
now plummeted about 60%,

1059
00:41:58.790 --> 00:42:00.284
falling below $6,000,

1060
00:42:00.319 --> 00:42:03.353
and trading right around
an eight-month low...

1061
00:42:03.388 --> 00:42:04.959
You have to understand.

1062
00:42:04.994 --> 00:42:08.633
Whenever crypto
has, like, a cold moment,

1063
00:42:08.668 --> 00:42:10.129
you have to see my phone.

1064
00:42:10.164 --> 00:42:11.768
People are telling me
their lives are over.

1065
00:42:11.803 --> 00:42:15.365
I'm like, "Guys,
like, the key to crypto

1066
00:42:15.400 --> 00:42:17.675
is that every time
we have a crash,

1067
00:42:17.710 --> 00:42:20.612
the ceiling raises
a little more every time."

1068
00:42:20.647 --> 00:42:23.175
So, the first time Bitcoin
crashes to a couple hundred

1069
00:42:23.210 --> 00:42:25.650
bucks, next time it
crashes to a thousand.

1070
00:42:25.685 --> 00:42:28.983
Next time it crashes to five,
next time it crashes to 20.

1071
00:42:29.018 --> 00:42:31.887
We've seen the volatility
of Bitcoin decrease every year

1072
00:42:31.922 --> 00:42:33.724
for, like, the last five years

1073
00:42:33.759 --> 00:42:36.727
and it's now less volatile
than some fiat currencies.

1074
00:42:36.762 --> 00:42:38.190
From my commerce experience,

1075
00:42:38.225 --> 00:42:40.126
this is how commerce
kind of works, right?

1076
00:42:40.161 --> 00:42:41.699
It works in spikes.

1077
00:42:42.229 --> 00:42:46.396
If you have some
users kind of coming

1078
00:42:46.431 --> 00:42:48.739
and then you do a big
sell event and it spikes,

1079
00:42:48.774 --> 00:42:50.774
and then it settles in a next

1080
00:42:51.172 --> 00:42:53.238
-kind of higher baseline--
-Right.

1081
00:42:53.273 --> 00:42:55.174
and then it spikes again
and it spikes again,

1082
00:42:55.209 --> 00:42:57.044
-Yeah.
-Kind of like similar problem--

1083
00:42:57.079 --> 00:42:58.749
-It's like crypto.
-Hopefully-- like crypto.

1084
00:42:58.784 --> 00:43:00.377
I'm trying
to always hire people

1085
00:43:00.412 --> 00:43:02.148
who are better than me
at each of their disciplines.

1086
00:43:02.183 --> 00:43:04.986
Our Chief Product Officer,
Surojit, who just joined,

1087
00:43:05.021 --> 00:43:07.219
was at Google previously
and then at Flipkart.

1088
00:43:07.254 --> 00:43:08.891
He helped both
of those companies

1089
00:43:08.926 --> 00:43:10.695
grow to the next level.

1090
00:43:10.730 --> 00:43:12.796
When I joined
Coinbase, people were like,

1091
00:43:12.831 --> 00:43:16.668
"Every few years we have
this bull runs in crypto

1092
00:43:16.703 --> 00:43:18.296
and then everything breaks

1093
00:43:18.331 --> 00:43:21.167
because we just cannot estimate

1094
00:43:21.202 --> 00:43:24.709
how much demand will--
will come to our platform."

1095
00:43:24.744 --> 00:43:27.712
So, I thought, okay,
let's create a project

1096
00:43:27.747 --> 00:43:30.044
to prepare for
this bull run scenario

1097
00:43:30.079 --> 00:43:32.816
and we have to do it now
when there is no bull run.

1098
00:43:32.851 --> 00:43:35.049
And what could be a good
name for that project?

1099
00:43:37.757 --> 00:43:40.153
Pamplona is this city in Spain

1100
00:43:40.188 --> 00:43:42.353
where they have these
bull runs every year

1101
00:43:42.388 --> 00:43:45.224
Project Pamplona.

1102
00:43:45.963 --> 00:43:47.798
The next bull run
in crypto happens

1103
00:43:47.833 --> 00:43:51.032
and our systems start failing,
the opposite happens.

1104
00:43:51.067 --> 00:43:53.738
You actually-- your baselines
shifts downward.

1105
00:43:54.169 --> 00:43:55.333
That's a big risk for us.

1106
00:43:55.368 --> 00:43:57.071
<i>There will be glitches</i>

1107
00:43:57.106 --> 00:43:58.941
<i>and you have to prepare</i>
<i>for the glitches.</i>

1108
00:43:58.976 --> 00:44:02.406
It's like how NASA, for example,
sends that rover on Mars.

1109
00:44:02.441 --> 00:44:06.179
They will have, like,
ways to fix those

1110
00:44:06.214 --> 00:44:08.852
failures or glitches remotely.

1111
00:44:08.887 --> 00:44:10.887
They have backup systems
and so forth.

1112
00:44:10.922 --> 00:44:13.021
That's how we always
think about it.

1113
00:44:13.056 --> 00:44:15.386
When I look back
at early days of Google,

1114
00:44:15.421 --> 00:44:17.355
there was always this thinking

1115
00:44:17.390 --> 00:44:21.733
that we are building a company
that comes once in a lifetime.

1116
00:44:21.768 --> 00:44:26.100
I see a similar ambition
and possibilities

1117
00:44:26.135 --> 00:44:29.037
and I think that possibility
exists not just for Coinbase,

1118
00:44:29.072 --> 00:44:31.072
for the entire crypto industry.

1119
00:44:31.107 --> 00:44:35.076
Of the 90% of people who
have heard of cryptocurrency,

1120
00:44:35.111 --> 00:44:37.815
I'd say half have probably
just heard it in passing

1121
00:44:37.850 --> 00:44:40.345
and know that it's some
kind of new crazy

1122
00:44:40.380 --> 00:44:41.753
Internet money thing.

1123
00:44:42.217 --> 00:44:44.019
And then I think there
is a small minority

1124
00:44:44.054 --> 00:44:46.923
who start to have a glimpse
of the larger picture,

1125
00:44:46.958 --> 00:44:50.993
which is crypto will
be the biggest force

1126
00:44:51.028 --> 00:44:54.359
in driving quality of life
across the board.

1127
00:44:55.065 --> 00:44:56.999
Crypto has the highest
likelihood of being helpful

1128
00:44:57.034 --> 00:44:59.034
in places where
something is broken.

1129
00:44:59.069 --> 00:45:01.498
Governance, financial
institutions, social bonds.

1130
00:45:02.138 --> 00:45:04.006
There are over two billion
smartphones out there

1131
00:45:04.041 --> 00:45:06.877
and far fewer
than that bank accounts.

1132
00:45:06.912 --> 00:45:08.472
And now with this technology,

1133
00:45:08.507 --> 00:45:10.540
you can effectively have
a bank account on your phone.

1134
00:45:10.575 --> 00:45:12.212
And that may not be
interesting to, you know,

1135
00:45:12.247 --> 00:45:13.917
an American or Western European,

1136
00:45:13.952 --> 00:45:16.216
but it's very interesting
to someone living

1137
00:45:16.251 --> 00:45:18.020
under hyperinflation,
like in Venezuela.

1138
00:45:18.055 --> 00:45:20.990
Their money is depreciating
by about 50% a month.

1139
00:45:21.025 --> 00:45:22.893
The money is becoming worthless.

1140
00:45:22.928 --> 00:45:25.390
Fundamentally, we just wanna see
if we can help people with this.

1141
00:45:25.425 --> 00:45:28.030
But one of ancillary goals
or secondary goals

1142
00:45:28.065 --> 00:45:30.967
is can we actually spark
crypto economies in the world?

1143
00:45:31.002 --> 00:45:34.135
Because that would probably
bring more economic freedom.

1144
00:45:35.072 --> 00:45:37.468
Bitcoin is revolutionary
human rights tool.

1145
00:45:37.503 --> 00:45:39.910
We're talking about this
tremendous opportunity

1146
00:45:39.945 --> 00:45:41.879
for all these people
to be their own bank.

1147
00:45:41.914 --> 00:45:44.409
They can actually
control their own value,

1148
00:45:44.444 --> 00:45:47.379
their time and energy
that they put into their wages.

1149
00:45:47.414 --> 00:45:50.085
They can custody into something
that can't be taken from them.

1150
00:45:50.120 --> 00:45:51.922
Cryptocurrency is
the first time you can have

1151
00:45:51.957 --> 00:45:54.188
electronic transaction
that is censorship-resistant.

1152
00:45:54.223 --> 00:45:56.157
Violence sent
a wave of anger...

1153
00:45:56.192 --> 00:45:59.556
In Belarus, we saw
pro-democracy protests.

1154
00:45:59.591 --> 00:46:02.130
Police were detaining
thousands of people.

1155
00:46:02.165 --> 00:46:03.527
We saw
protesters cut off

1156
00:46:03.562 --> 00:46:05.562
from financial services
in their country.

1157
00:46:05.597 --> 00:46:07.839
This non-profit
was able to then raise

1158
00:46:07.874 --> 00:46:10.303
$3 million in Bitcoin

1159
00:46:10.943 --> 00:46:12.437
in order to support people

1160
00:46:12.472 --> 00:46:14.604
who'd lost their jobs in
the Belarussian government

1161
00:46:14.639 --> 00:46:16.309
or elsewhere

1162
00:46:16.344 --> 00:46:18.443
because they were
protesting for democracy.

1163
00:46:19.248 --> 00:46:22.854
What happened here has
deeply unsettled Nigerians.

1164
00:46:22.889 --> 00:46:26.352
And in Nigeria, we saw
protests against police violence

1165
00:46:26.387 --> 00:46:28.926
where people cut off
from the banking system

1166
00:46:28.961 --> 00:46:32.193
were able to live and
be supported because of Bitcoin,

1167
00:46:32.228 --> 00:46:34.833
despite the corruption
in that country.

1168
00:46:35.231 --> 00:46:38.133
There's this balance
between freedom

1169
00:46:38.498 --> 00:46:42.907
and state control and certainly,

1170
00:46:42.942 --> 00:46:45.910
uh, cryptocurrency in general
and Bitcoin in particular

1171
00:46:45.945 --> 00:46:47.604
makes you think about that.

1172
00:46:47.639 --> 00:46:51.047
And I-- and I-- and I think
the challenge to regulators

1173
00:46:51.082 --> 00:46:55.117
is the bar is moving
pretty far pretty fast.

1174
00:46:55.152 --> 00:46:57.955
Because there's a lot of
scepticism in government

1175
00:46:57.990 --> 00:46:59.517
about crypto in general.

1176
00:46:59.552 --> 00:47:01.156
Do you ever get that
feeling that, you know what,

1177
00:47:01.191 --> 00:47:02.487
I just want to tell them
how this actually works?

1178
00:47:02.522 --> 00:47:04.258
I want to educate them?

1179
00:47:04.293 --> 00:47:06.128
Um, well, it wouldn't surprise
me if that happens

1180
00:47:06.163 --> 00:47:08.394
I-- 'cause I do think crypto
is going to keep becoming

1181
00:47:09.001 --> 00:47:10.264
more and more
relevant in the world.

1182
00:47:10.299 --> 00:47:12.200
It's actually funny,
when I go to DC,

1183
00:47:12.235 --> 00:47:13.905
usually all the staffers

1184
00:47:13.940 --> 00:47:15.269
that are in the--
kind of the waiting room,

1185
00:47:15.304 --> 00:47:17.040
they all come up
and they're like,

1186
00:47:17.075 --> 00:47:18.877
"Coinbase, like, I love
Coinbase, I have the app."

1187
00:47:19.242 --> 00:47:20.670
And then I go meet
with, like, the senator

1188
00:47:20.705 --> 00:47:22.474
or the congressman,
and they're like, "Hmm,

1189
00:47:22.509 --> 00:47:24.443
what is this technology about?"

1190
00:47:24.478 --> 00:47:26.082
For the first time
in his presidency,

1191
00:47:26.117 --> 00:47:28.953
President Trump publicly
commented on crypto

1192
00:47:28.988 --> 00:47:30.449
and he doesn't like it.

1193
00:47:30.484 --> 00:47:32.649
Bitcoin, I-- I--
just seems like a scam.

1194
00:47:32.684 --> 00:47:34.486
Coinbase CEO
Brian Armstrong

1195
00:47:34.521 --> 00:47:35.520
tweeted,

1196
00:47:47.204 --> 00:47:50.106
Crypto could be even more
dangerous for consumers.

1197
00:47:50.141 --> 00:47:52.108
It helped terrorists
and criminals

1198
00:47:52.143 --> 00:47:53.978
move money around the world.

1199
00:47:54.013 --> 00:47:57.179
Terrorism, financing a criminal
activity of all kinds.

1200
00:47:57.214 --> 00:47:59.445
They present real risks through
their use by the criminal

1201
00:47:59.480 --> 00:48:01.051
and terrorist organizations

1202
00:48:01.086 --> 00:48:02.646
trying to conceal
their illicit activity.

1203
00:48:03.990 --> 00:48:06.188
I was a federal
prosecutor for over a decade,

1204
00:48:06.223 --> 00:48:07.992
prosecuting organized crime

1205
00:48:08.027 --> 00:48:09.928
with the United States
Department of Justice.

1206
00:48:10.491 --> 00:48:12.964
I felt a deep sense
of doing what's right

1207
00:48:12.999 --> 00:48:16.231
and bringing people who have
broken the law to justice.

1208
00:48:16.266 --> 00:48:17.562
The Mongols are in a fierce,

1209
00:48:17.597 --> 00:48:19.366
bloody feud
with the Hells Angels.

1210
00:48:19.401 --> 00:48:21.533
I prosecuted
a high profile murder

1211
00:48:21.568 --> 00:48:23.601
involving the Hells Angels
and the Mongols

1212
00:48:23.636 --> 00:48:25.372
motorcycle gangs.

1213
00:48:25.407 --> 00:48:28.507
A case involving the Nuestra
Familia prison gang.

1214
00:48:28.542 --> 00:48:31.444
I also prosecuted corrupt
federal agents investigating

1215
00:48:31.479 --> 00:48:32.610
the Silk Road case.

1216
00:48:33.481 --> 00:48:35.052
Late 2012,

1217
00:48:35.087 --> 00:48:36.647
one of my bosses
in the Justice Department

1218
00:48:36.682 --> 00:48:37.989
came to me and said,

1219
00:48:38.024 --> 00:48:39.584
"There's this new technology

1220
00:48:39.619 --> 00:48:42.488
that's being used criminally
called Bitcoin.

1221
00:48:42.523 --> 00:48:44.226
We need to get to
the bottom of this."

1222
00:48:44.261 --> 00:48:47.097
A new website sells
illegal drugs to anyone

1223
00:48:47.132 --> 00:48:48.329
who is willing to pay.

1224
00:48:48.364 --> 00:48:50.067
Payment was in bitcoin.

1225
00:48:50.102 --> 00:48:51.761
I thought,
"This sounds criminal."

1226
00:48:51.796 --> 00:48:55.138
And I started looking into it
like, "What was Bitcoin?"

1227
00:48:55.173 --> 00:48:58.339
And that was when I had
a really powerful aha-moment.

1228
00:48:58.374 --> 00:49:01.012
This is a technology
like the Internet.

1229
00:49:01.047 --> 00:49:02.673
It's not inherently good or bad

1230
00:49:02.708 --> 00:49:05.709
and it's not a thing
that can be prosecuted.

1231
00:49:05.744 --> 00:49:08.712
In fact, we were able
to use crypto technology

1232
00:49:08.747 --> 00:49:10.681
to trace criminal activity.

1233
00:49:11.651 --> 00:49:14.685
The first time I met Brian,
I actually remember it well.

1234
00:49:14.720 --> 00:49:16.423
The first impression

1235
00:49:16.458 --> 00:49:18.194
that some of us in
the government had was that

1236
00:49:18.229 --> 00:49:20.262
people involved in crypto
didn't believe in laws

1237
00:49:20.297 --> 00:49:21.758
or regulation at all.

1238
00:49:21.793 --> 00:49:24.596
Brian really stood
in stark contrast to that.

1239
00:49:24.631 --> 00:49:27.038
The main transaction
where we see funds

1240
00:49:27.073 --> 00:49:28.666
leaving the fraudster account,

1241
00:49:28.701 --> 00:49:31.042
this goes actually
to a Coinbase customer.

1242
00:49:31.077 --> 00:49:33.308
Our job is to assist
law enforcement

1243
00:49:33.343 --> 00:49:35.706
and other agencies around
the world help catch bad guys.

1244
00:49:35.741 --> 00:49:38.346
The interesting thing about
crypto is we can see everything.

1245
00:49:38.381 --> 00:49:40.216
If we were bank investigators,

1246
00:49:40.251 --> 00:49:42.548
it'd be like following every
bill that has left a bank

1247
00:49:42.583 --> 00:49:43.747
and gone around the world.

1248
00:49:43.782 --> 00:49:45.584
We've got really good tools.

1249
00:49:45.619 --> 00:49:47.520
We've got a great relationship
with law enforcement.

1250
00:49:47.555 --> 00:49:49.423
Our primary goal is we wanna be
able to protect our customers.

1251
00:49:50.195 --> 00:49:52.228
My dad was an air force officer,
we moved around a lot

1252
00:49:52.263 --> 00:49:54.527
and I was always kind
of the new kid in class

1253
00:49:54.562 --> 00:49:57.068
and, um, I was bullied
a little bit in school.

1254
00:49:57.565 --> 00:49:59.433
After I became bigger
than most bullies,

1255
00:49:59.468 --> 00:50:01.105
then I was able to kind of help

1256
00:50:01.140 --> 00:50:02.634
some of the other kids
that were being bullied.

1257
00:50:02.669 --> 00:50:04.339
It gave me some
compassion for people

1258
00:50:04.374 --> 00:50:06.143
who have been victimized online.

1259
00:50:06.178 --> 00:50:08.145
It's our job to gain their trust

1260
00:50:08.180 --> 00:50:09.839
and know that
we're doing the right thing

1261
00:50:09.874 --> 00:50:11.148
with this technology.

1262
00:50:12.679 --> 00:50:16.186
We are responsible
for safeguarding

1263
00:50:16.221 --> 00:50:18.122
the financial well-being
of, at this point,

1264
00:50:18.157 --> 00:50:19.783
30 million people
around the world.

1265
00:50:19.818 --> 00:50:22.522
You can think about
cybersecurity as chess.

1266
00:50:22.557 --> 00:50:24.227
You made a great opening move.

1267
00:50:24.262 --> 00:50:26.460
The attacker made their move,
but what's next?

1268
00:50:26.495 --> 00:50:27.791
How far ahead are you thinking?

1269
00:50:27.826 --> 00:50:29.760
Getting security right

1270
00:50:29.795 --> 00:50:32.796
is foundationally critical for
the future of cryptocurrency.

1271
00:50:32.831 --> 00:50:35.337
I think it's natural
that it takes a while

1272
00:50:35.372 --> 00:50:39.176
for there to be infrastructure
and an ecosystem of tools

1273
00:50:39.211 --> 00:50:41.871
built up around
a foundation of new technology.

1274
00:50:41.906 --> 00:50:43.675
When electricity was invented,

1275
00:50:43.710 --> 00:50:47.184
it took a long time
from the original spark

1276
00:50:47.219 --> 00:50:50.220
until we lived
in an electrified world.

1277
00:50:51.223 --> 00:50:52.783
I think we're just going
through a similar

1278
00:50:52.818 --> 00:50:54.851
arc of development
with cryptocurrency.

1279
00:50:54.886 --> 00:50:57.854
The most important technologies
in our lives today

1280
00:50:58.527 --> 00:51:00.659
are the ones that we don't
see or think about.

1281
00:51:01.398 --> 00:51:02.694
We don't think about

1282
00:51:02.729 --> 00:51:04.663
the electrical system
unless it's off.

1283
00:51:05.666 --> 00:51:08.304
We don't think about the very
complicated system that we have

1284
00:51:08.339 --> 00:51:10.174
of bringing running water
into our homes

1285
00:51:10.209 --> 00:51:11.736
unless something happens to it.

1286
00:51:11.771 --> 00:51:14.673
And crypto, I think,
is headed in that direction

1287
00:51:15.247 --> 00:51:18.545
where yes, it will become
embedded in essential

1288
00:51:18.580 --> 00:51:22.186
component of
the infrastructure as essential

1289
00:51:22.221 --> 00:51:25.156
as water or plumbing, sewage,

1290
00:51:25.191 --> 00:51:26.520
electricity.

1291
00:51:32.660 --> 00:51:34.561
<i>A shelter in place order</i>

1292
00:51:34.596 --> 00:51:37.234
<i>for some seven million people</i>
<i>in the city by the bay.</i>

1293
00:51:37.269 --> 00:51:39.368
<i>They are expected to stay home,</i>
<i>all in hopes, of course,</i>

1294
00:51:39.403 --> 00:51:41.403
<i>of stopping the spread</i>
<i>of COVID-19.</i>

1295
00:51:46.641 --> 00:51:49.312
Everybody is working as hard
or harder than they have,

1296
00:51:49.347 --> 00:51:51.281
and in the face of this change,

1297
00:51:51.316 --> 00:51:53.217
feels less productive
than they have.

1298
00:51:53.615 --> 00:51:55.681
This may be just me
out of touch or something,

1299
00:51:55.716 --> 00:51:57.287
like, I mean, I don't have kids.

1300
00:51:57.322 --> 00:51:58.519
So, let's put that
aside for a minute,

1301
00:51:58.554 --> 00:51:59.817
people with kids at home.

1302
00:52:00.457 --> 00:52:03.227
I mean, I feel like I'm just
as productive at home

1303
00:52:03.262 --> 00:52:05.328
in-- in the last week, is...

1304
00:52:06.331 --> 00:52:08.232
What-- I mean--

1305
00:52:08.267 --> 00:52:10.432
But maybe I just-- I don't--
I just deal with stress well.

1306
00:52:10.467 --> 00:52:11.895
Like, I-- these things
don't really faze me.

1307
00:52:11.930 --> 00:52:13.897
So, what's the deal?
What am I missing here?

1308
00:52:13.932 --> 00:52:15.899
Someone was, like,
literally in an alley today

1309
00:52:15.934 --> 00:52:19.342
because their partner
needed their one living room

1310
00:52:19.377 --> 00:52:21.608
for the call and they
don't have a bedroom.

1311
00:52:21.643 --> 00:52:23.940
I think it's also about
the, like, emotional burden

1312
00:52:23.975 --> 00:52:25.513
that people
have adjusting to, like,

1313
00:52:25.548 --> 00:52:27.218
what's going on in the world.

1314
00:52:27.253 --> 00:52:28.582
I mean, Brian, the way
I would think about it,

1315
00:52:28.617 --> 00:52:30.221
if I can just be really
candid is,

1316
00:52:30.256 --> 00:52:31.321
I suspect you have
the single best setup

1317
00:52:31.356 --> 00:52:32.388
in the whole company, right?

1318
00:52:32.423 --> 00:52:33.983
Like, you're a single guy,

1319
00:52:34.018 --> 00:52:36.392
you have a high speed thing,
you're well-prepared.

1320
00:52:36.427 --> 00:52:37.690
There's nobody in the room.

1321
00:52:38.429 --> 00:52:40.561
Like, I-- I-- I have
a good setup. I'm good.

1322
00:52:40.596 --> 00:52:42.497
But, like, I think we need
to think of ourselves

1323
00:52:42.532 --> 00:52:44.895
as in the vast minority and
that everybody else is facing

1324
00:52:44.930 --> 00:52:46.534
a greater tax than we are.

1325
00:52:46.569 --> 00:52:47.931
Yeah, totally fair.

1326
00:52:49.704 --> 00:52:50.967
Once the COVID stuff is over,

1327
00:52:51.002 --> 00:52:52.606
some percentage of the company

1328
00:52:52.641 --> 00:52:54.311
is going to want to come
back to the offices.

1329
00:52:54.346 --> 00:52:56.742
Other people seem to be
more productive at home,

1330
00:52:56.777 --> 00:52:59.514
so we'll have to see
what employees want to do

1331
00:52:59.549 --> 00:53:01.219
and where they
feel most productive.

1332
00:53:02.849 --> 00:53:04.783
<i> The virus</i>
<i>is continuing to spread.</i>

1333
00:53:04.818 --> 00:53:06.422
<i>Growing fears the virus</i>

1334
00:53:06.457 --> 00:53:08.391
<i>could tip economies</i>
<i>into recession.</i>

1335
00:53:08.426 --> 00:53:12.296
<i>6.6 million people filed for</i>
<i>unemployment over the last week.</i>

1336
00:53:12.331 --> 00:53:14.331
<i>And the question now is</i>

1337
00:53:14.366 --> 00:53:16.663
<i>when are the jobs</i>
<i>going to come back?</i>

1338
00:53:17.732 --> 00:53:20.271
March of 2020,

1339
00:53:20.306 --> 00:53:23.703
much to my horror, I was
watching the entire economy

1340
00:53:23.738 --> 00:53:28.906
shut down while Wall Street had
the biggest rally in a decade.

1341
00:53:30.811 --> 00:53:33.878
The monetary response
of the central banks

1342
00:53:33.913 --> 00:53:35.748
was to expand the money supply

1343
00:53:35.783 --> 00:53:37.750
and take the interest rates
to zero.

1344
00:53:37.785 --> 00:53:40.819
The result of this was a quick

1345
00:53:40.854 --> 00:53:43.690
V-shaped recovery
on Wall Street.

1346
00:53:43.725 --> 00:53:46.858
While we had a L-shaped
recovery on Main Street.

1347
00:53:47.828 --> 00:53:50.631
You know, if you had
a billion dollars invested in

1348
00:53:50.666 --> 00:53:52.435
Wall Street assets,

1349
00:53:52.470 --> 00:53:55.504
you were going to make
25% this year doing nothing.

1350
00:53:55.539 --> 00:53:58.573
And if you worked 25%
harder on Main Street,

1351
00:53:58.608 --> 00:54:00.476
you were going to get nothing.

1352
00:54:00.511 --> 00:54:03.347
And it struck me that
money was broken, right?

1353
00:54:03.382 --> 00:54:04.546
The economy was broken.

1354
00:54:05.450 --> 00:54:07.417
The problem
that everybody faces,

1355
00:54:07.452 --> 00:54:09.320
every company, every individual,

1356
00:54:09.355 --> 00:54:14.919
is, "How do I store my money
without having it dwindle away?"

1357
00:54:15.625 --> 00:54:17.328
So, what is this Bitcoin thing?

1358
00:54:17.825 --> 00:54:19.957
Went down that rabbit hole,
I started researching

1359
00:54:19.992 --> 00:54:23.367
and I came to conclusion
that Bitcoin represents

1360
00:54:23.402 --> 00:54:26.062
an instrument of economic
empowerment.

1361
00:54:26.097 --> 00:54:29.901
It becomes a solution to
billions of people's problems.

1362
00:54:30.475 --> 00:54:34.642
It becomes a solution to
100 million companies' problems,

1363
00:54:34.677 --> 00:54:36.039
and it becomes a solution

1364
00:54:36.074 --> 00:54:39.042
to every investor
store of value dilemma.

1365
00:54:39.077 --> 00:54:42.078
<i> Michael Saylor</i>
<i>says Bitcoin is the safe bet</i>

1366
00:54:42.113 --> 00:54:44.520
<i>after moving his</i>
<i>firm's cash to crypto.</i>

1367
00:54:44.555 --> 00:54:46.390
<i>His company, MicroStrategy,</i>

1368
00:54:46.425 --> 00:54:48.084
<i>has bought more than</i>
<i>a billion dollars' worth.</i>

1369
00:54:48.119 --> 00:54:52.693
What's critical for the human
race is to keep upgrading

1370
00:54:52.728 --> 00:54:54.431
its technology,

1371
00:54:54.466 --> 00:54:58.567
and, uh, Bitcoin represents
a material upgrade

1372
00:54:58.602 --> 00:55:00.998
to monetary technology.

1373
00:55:09.646 --> 00:55:12.515
Technology is the
highest leverage way that I know

1374
00:55:12.550 --> 00:55:14.418
to have an impact on the world.

1375
00:55:14.453 --> 00:55:15.848
Other people, they'll tell me,

1376
00:55:15.883 --> 00:55:17.652
"You know, I really
like mentoring kids

1377
00:55:17.687 --> 00:55:19.148
because they're going
to have a much bigger impact

1378
00:55:19.183 --> 00:55:21.051
than some app."
I get that.

1379
00:55:21.086 --> 00:55:23.856
But for my skill set or my mind,
the way it works, I'm like,

1380
00:55:23.891 --> 00:55:25.462
"I want to go for scale."

1381
00:55:26.498 --> 00:55:28.025
We still have lots
of hoops to jump through

1382
00:55:28.060 --> 00:55:29.829
with the FCC to make this work,

1383
00:55:29.864 --> 00:55:31.501
but everyone
is working basically

1384
00:55:31.536 --> 00:55:33.437
from 8:00 a.m. 'til
midnight daily.

1385
00:55:33.472 --> 00:55:35.835
Yeah, maybe we should just shut
down the company for a week,

1386
00:55:35.870 --> 00:55:37.936
make everybody go
take time off or something.

1387
00:55:37.971 --> 00:55:39.608
Whenever you're
trying to go public,

1388
00:55:39.643 --> 00:55:41.104
it's always a lot of work.

1389
00:55:41.139 --> 00:55:42.809
Fall Fruits is our
internal code name

1390
00:55:42.844 --> 00:55:44.778
for our process to go public.

1391
00:55:44.813 --> 00:55:46.450
We're having a
lot of discussions

1392
00:55:46.485 --> 00:55:48.144
about all the mechanics
of how it all works.

1393
00:55:48.179 --> 00:55:49.816
It's like drinking
from the fire hose

1394
00:55:49.851 --> 00:55:52.621
and trying to not make
any major mistakes.

1395
00:55:52.656 --> 00:55:54.117
So, my initial thought was like,

1396
00:55:54.152 --> 00:55:55.789
"Okay, maybe Coinbase
should just go public

1397
00:55:55.824 --> 00:55:58.792
in a crypto native way
and issue a crypto token

1398
00:55:58.827 --> 00:56:00.959
that is a security token,
meaning it represents

1399
00:56:00.994 --> 00:56:04.094
a share in Coinbase," and list
our token on our own exchange.

1400
00:56:04.129 --> 00:56:06.129
That's kind of where
the future is going.

1401
00:56:06.164 --> 00:56:08.703
Someday it'll all go
through a computer, Brian.

1402
00:56:08.738 --> 00:56:11.871
It's like-- it's on its way
to-- to your utopia.

1403
00:56:11.906 --> 00:56:13.004
But it's not there yet.

1404
00:56:13.039 --> 00:56:15.611
Okay, I guess. Yeah.

1405
00:56:16.515 --> 00:56:18.207
So, now we're becoming
a public company.

1406
00:56:18.242 --> 00:56:21.111
Do we wanna do a direct listing
versus a traditional IPO?

1407
00:56:21.146 --> 00:56:24.653
I think the arguments for-- for
direct listing better align

1408
00:56:24.688 --> 00:56:28.591
with the internal-external
reputation we want to have.

1409
00:56:28.626 --> 00:56:30.186
You know, in-- in the direct
listing, you're saying

1410
00:56:30.221 --> 00:56:31.825
we're going to let
the market set the price.

1411
00:56:31.860 --> 00:56:33.728
We don't know what the price is.

1412
00:56:33.763 --> 00:56:36.500
Goldman doesn't know that--
these investors don't know.

1413
00:56:36.535 --> 00:56:37.996
Let's let the market
set the price.

1414
00:56:38.031 --> 00:56:40.669
Anybody who
wants to buy can buy. Um...

1415
00:56:41.738 --> 00:56:44.068
Direct listing feels more,
quote-unquote, fair to me.

1416
00:56:46.941 --> 00:56:48.677
One of the things
a lot of entrepreneurs

1417
00:56:48.712 --> 00:56:50.481
try to figure out is like,
"Do I even want to be

1418
00:56:50.516 --> 00:56:51.680
a public company's CEO?"

1419
00:56:52.749 --> 00:56:54.914
Because there comes with
its own set of challenges,

1420
00:56:56.247 --> 00:56:58.148
but I think it comes
with a lot of positives.

1421
00:56:58.183 --> 00:57:00.458
It's a way to have big impact.

1422
00:57:01.186 --> 00:57:02.691
I have a very specific
vision in mind

1423
00:57:02.726 --> 00:57:04.594
about what I want us
to accomplish.

1424
00:57:04.629 --> 00:57:06.189
A lot of it comes
to economic freedom.

1425
00:57:06.224 --> 00:57:08.125
That's what the mission
of Coinbase is about.

1426
00:57:16.806 --> 00:57:19.004
It was a painful night
in Minneapolis

1427
00:57:19.039 --> 00:57:22.810
and a day of difficult questions
about the death of George Floyd.

1428
00:57:24.946 --> 00:57:27.078
According to new
reports in a company town hall

1429
00:57:27.113 --> 00:57:28.552
an employee
asked Brian Armstrong

1430
00:57:28.587 --> 00:57:30.015
a question about
Black Lives Matter

1431
00:57:30.050 --> 00:57:31.555
and whether he supports
that movement,

1432
00:57:31.590 --> 00:57:33.524
and he declined
to answer that question.

1433
00:57:33.559 --> 00:57:36.186
And there was actually a small
employee walkout as a result.

1434
00:57:36.221 --> 00:57:39.024
Part of the leadership EQ
is knowing that there's certain

1435
00:57:39.059 --> 00:57:41.125
events that basically
you have to say something.

1436
00:57:41.160 --> 00:57:43.292
There are people who
are really affected by this

1437
00:57:43.327 --> 00:57:45.261
and they're reading
into your actions.

1438
00:57:45.296 --> 00:57:47.098
I'm kind of like a believer

1439
00:57:47.133 --> 00:57:48.968
in Black Lives Matter,
the movement, right?

1440
00:57:49.003 --> 00:57:50.871
But I don't-- I don't want
employees to have an expectation

1441
00:57:50.906 --> 00:57:52.169
that a company
should be a mouthpiece

1442
00:57:52.204 --> 00:57:54.039
for their own personal views.

1443
00:57:54.074 --> 00:57:56.008
So, it was our Q3 All Hands

1444
00:57:56.043 --> 00:57:58.615
where we're going over
what's been going on.

1445
00:57:58.650 --> 00:58:00.848
And I think Brian
was, like, pretty emotional

1446
00:58:00.883 --> 00:58:02.586
while presenting it, too.

1447
00:58:02.621 --> 00:58:04.049
When I look back on
the walkout that happened,

1448
00:58:04.689 --> 00:58:07.657
I know a lot of you were
disappointed in me as a leader

1449
00:58:07.692 --> 00:58:10.957
um, in terms of my lack of
response in that moment or,

1450
00:58:10.992 --> 00:58:14.290
um, you know, just not leading
in the way that you wanted.

1451
00:58:14.325 --> 00:58:16.226
And I get that and, um, you know

1452
00:58:16.261 --> 00:58:17.898
I'm not going to get
everything perfect.

1453
00:58:17.933 --> 00:58:19.636
The mission is what
we all came here to do,

1454
00:58:19.671 --> 00:58:21.231
it's kind of the thing
that unites us.

1455
00:58:21.266 --> 00:58:23.574
You know, it wouldn't be fair
to kind of jump into

1456
00:58:23.609 --> 00:58:26.038
another topic or another,
um, cause in the world

1457
00:58:26.073 --> 00:58:27.974
that we didn't
all come here to join.

1458
00:58:28.009 --> 00:58:29.877
I feel passionate that I want
the workplace to be a refuge

1459
00:58:29.912 --> 00:58:31.846
from the division
that's out there in the world.

1460
00:58:31.881 --> 00:58:34.079
Some feel like, um, you know,
you have red and blue states.

1461
00:58:34.114 --> 00:58:35.982
There need to be
red and blue companies

1462
00:58:36.017 --> 00:58:38.017
or something like that and I
reject the extreme positions

1463
00:58:38.052 --> 00:58:39.854
on-- on either side there.

1464
00:58:39.889 --> 00:58:41.317
I feel like there's an
opportunity to create a place

1465
00:58:41.352 --> 00:58:43.088
that's welcoming for all people.

1466
00:58:43.123 --> 00:58:45.057
Brian Armstrong
wants his employees to know

1467
00:58:45.092 --> 00:58:47.290
that they are in
the cryptocurrency business,

1468
00:58:47.325 --> 00:58:49.633
not the business
of social activism.

1469
00:58:49.668 --> 00:58:52.262
Armstrong says Coinbase,
quote, "Won't debate causes

1470
00:58:52.297 --> 00:58:54.099
or political
candidates internally

1471
00:58:54.134 --> 00:58:57.036
and will not engage in things
unrelated to their core

1472
00:58:57.071 --> 00:59:00.105
mission," offering about four
to six months of severance

1473
00:59:00.140 --> 00:59:03.174
if they decide to quit
because of that new policy.

1474
00:59:03.209 --> 00:59:05.715
So, when Brian made that
statement, I was like,

1475
00:59:05.750 --> 00:59:07.211
"Oh, he's going to get
crushed for this."

1476
00:59:09.688 --> 00:59:11.853
Brian Armstrong
essentially said,

1477
00:59:11.888 --> 00:59:13.624
"You either shut up or get out."

1478
00:59:13.659 --> 00:59:16.220
That notion is actually
anti-Bitcoin, right?

1479
00:59:16.255 --> 00:59:18.321
We talked about the
democratization

1480
00:59:18.356 --> 00:59:21.390
of Bitcoin, right?
It wasn't intended to create

1481
00:59:21.425 --> 00:59:23.733
a space where
we censor people.

1482
00:59:25.330 --> 00:59:27.099
Brian Armstrong's
memo basically said,

1483
00:59:27.134 --> 00:59:28.672
"We want to be mission-driven."

1484
00:59:29.169 --> 00:59:31.235
Clearly, the company is
having an internal crisis.

1485
00:59:31.270 --> 00:59:34.205
People are still really
connecting this back to BLM.

1486
00:59:34.240 --> 00:59:36.141
It has nothing to do
with BLM specifically.

1487
00:59:36.176 --> 00:59:37.978
It's about an alignment
in our culture

1488
00:59:38.013 --> 00:59:39.782
about where we're going
to spend our time and energy.

1489
00:59:39.817 --> 00:59:41.179
What they are
really caring about

1490
00:59:41.214 --> 00:59:42.884
and they want to know is that

1491
00:59:42.919 --> 00:59:45.051
does the exec team
care about them as humans?

1492
00:59:45.086 --> 00:59:48.087
And we specifically expect
this empathy from Brian.

1493
00:59:48.122 --> 00:59:49.759
I mean, hopefully
we all do that with the--

1494
00:59:49.794 --> 00:59:51.156
with the people
on our team doing--

1495
00:59:51.191 --> 00:59:52.960
just checking--
how are you doing, right?

1496
00:59:52.995 --> 00:59:54.390
That's what it means
to, like, care about somebody.

1497
00:59:54.425 --> 00:59:56.062
There's a part of me,
when I hear that,

1498
00:59:56.097 --> 00:59:57.668
I'm like, "That's not really
what was happening here.

1499
00:59:57.703 --> 00:59:59.098
It's not just that."

1500
00:59:59.133 --> 01:00:01.166
People pin this on the spot
about whether we were

1501
01:00:01.201 --> 01:00:02.871
going to make
an external commitment

1502
01:00:02.906 --> 01:00:04.400
to this political movement.

1503
01:00:05.909 --> 01:00:08.305
Leadership is hard,
and I think for Brian,

1504
01:00:08.340 --> 01:00:12.144
an innovator who wants
to build, wants to focus,

1505
01:00:12.179 --> 01:00:15.114
but also, leaders
have to create spaces

1506
01:00:15.149 --> 01:00:16.852
for people to talk about things

1507
01:00:16.887 --> 01:00:19.019
that happened
outside of the company.

1508
01:00:19.054 --> 01:00:20.856
So, you have to have
all of these considerations

1509
01:00:20.891 --> 01:00:23.727
that have nothing to do
with the business,

1510
01:00:23.762 --> 01:00:27.093
but it's about the welfare
of your workforce.

1511
01:00:27.128 --> 01:00:32.032
I do believe that people deserve
to have their voice heard

1512
01:00:32.463 --> 01:00:35.365
and I would never make
that decision that Brian did.

1513
01:00:35.400 --> 01:00:37.367
But my company,
we're small shop.

1514
01:00:37.402 --> 01:00:39.710
When there's 15 people
in a room

1515
01:00:39.745 --> 01:00:43.175
and few of us disagree,
compared to 500, it's different.

1516
01:00:43.210 --> 01:00:44.781
But I understand why he did it

1517
01:00:44.816 --> 01:00:47.850
because there are
too many variables,

1518
01:00:47.885 --> 01:00:50.820
like, in the world to-- to think

1519
01:00:50.855 --> 01:00:52.448
that you're going
to be able to have

1520
01:00:52.483 --> 01:00:55.022
that kind of open dialogue
in an office setting.

1521
01:00:55.057 --> 01:00:57.761
And things are going to be--
No, it's chaos, war.

1522
01:00:57.796 --> 01:01:00.093
It's going to be Twitter
in your office.

1523
01:01:00.128 --> 01:01:04.031
When I was leaving,
I do think I felt some

1524
01:01:04.902 --> 01:01:10.741
anger that his position is
what made me want to leave.

1525
01:01:10.776 --> 01:01:14.140
But he did what he needed
to shape his company

1526
01:01:14.175 --> 01:01:16.043
the way he saw best fit.

1527
01:01:16.078 --> 01:01:18.815
You said that companies
shouldn't get involved

1528
01:01:18.850 --> 01:01:20.751
in these issues,
can you explain?

1529
01:01:20.786 --> 01:01:23.149
You know, I think every company
should really pick something big

1530
01:01:23.184 --> 01:01:24.920
that they want to try
to solve in the world.

1531
01:01:24.955 --> 01:01:26.416
And for us,
that's economic freedom.

1532
01:01:26.451 --> 01:01:28.088
And it's important
to have everybody aligned

1533
01:01:28.123 --> 01:01:30.354
and rowing
in the same direction, um,

1534
01:01:30.389 --> 01:01:33.489
to really go tackle something
that big and ambitious.

1535
01:01:39.497 --> 01:01:41.332
I think if I were going
to do it again today,

1536
01:01:41.367 --> 01:01:42.872
I probably
would have acted sooner

1537
01:01:42.907 --> 01:01:44.500
and I would have made it
even more clear.

1538
01:01:47.241 --> 01:01:49.109
Part of the reason
it got to the place it did

1539
01:01:49.144 --> 01:01:51.441
was that I just--
I noticed that it was an issue,

1540
01:01:51.476 --> 01:01:53.179
but I kept trying to sweep
it under the rug

1541
01:01:53.214 --> 01:01:54.884
because I didn't have
the words to really

1542
01:01:54.919 --> 01:01:56.446
deal with it or the experience.

1543
01:01:57.218 --> 01:01:58.987
Really kind
of unfortunate thing.

1544
01:01:59.022 --> 01:02:00.923
It was really stressful, uh,
for everybody involved,

1545
01:02:00.958 --> 01:02:03.057
but it was actually the-- one
of the most important things

1546
01:02:03.092 --> 01:02:04.960
we did to get
clarity as a company,

1547
01:02:04.995 --> 01:02:07.930
to all be aligned in moving
towards the mission again.

1548
01:02:17.502 --> 01:02:20.239
So, the
cryptocurrency boosters argue

1549
01:02:20.274 --> 01:02:24.045
that crypto is the yellow
brick road to a faster,

1550
01:02:24.080 --> 01:02:28.214
cheaper and safer financial
system that works for everyone,

1551
01:02:28.249 --> 01:02:30.183
not just for the biggest banks.

1552
01:02:30.218 --> 01:02:34.253
There is no question that our
financial system needs change,

1553
01:02:34.288 --> 01:02:37.256
but I'm not convinced
that crypto is the solution.

1554
01:02:38.996 --> 01:02:41.029
Instead of leaving
our financial system

1555
01:02:41.064 --> 01:02:42.866
at the whims of giant banks,

1556
01:02:42.901 --> 01:02:47.464
crypto puts the system
at the whims of some shadowy,

1557
01:02:47.499 --> 01:02:50.599
faceless group of super coders.

1558
01:02:50.634 --> 01:02:53.107
Which doesn't sound better.

1559
01:02:54.506 --> 01:02:57.441
I'm meeting with as many
people from the Treasury

1560
01:02:57.476 --> 01:03:01.115
and senators
and executive branch that I can

1561
01:03:01.150 --> 01:03:03.854
to establish relationships
and try to be helpful

1562
01:03:03.889 --> 01:03:05.449
as people try to wrap
their head around crypto

1563
01:03:05.484 --> 01:03:07.319
and what this industry
is going to be.

1564
01:03:07.354 --> 01:03:09.090
I'm just picking up, Katie,
by the way, at the hotel.

1565
01:03:09.125 --> 01:03:10.960
<i>Eventually, hopefully,</i>
<i>this can turn into</i>

1566
01:03:10.995 --> 01:03:12.291
<i>a clear regulatory framework</i>
<i>for the industry.</i>

1567
01:03:12.326 --> 01:03:14.931
-Hey.
<i>-Although he was always wanting</i>

1568
01:03:14.966 --> 01:03:16.427
<i>to play by the rules</i>
<i>and all the company</i>

1569
01:03:16.462 --> 01:03:18.264
<i>that abides by them,</i>
<i>Brian himself</i>

1570
01:03:18.299 --> 01:03:21.036
<i>never had any interest</i>
<i>in going to DC meetings.</i>

1571
01:03:21.071 --> 01:03:23.874
I think that's one of the signs
that Brian's really matured

1572
01:03:23.909 --> 01:03:26.877
into being a CEO, is he knows
this is his responsibility.

1573
01:03:26.912 --> 01:03:28.571
Fred and I were co-founders.

1574
01:03:28.606 --> 01:03:31.541
He-- he was always the one who'd
be, like, tromping around DC

1575
01:03:31.576 --> 01:03:33.917
and, like, doing all these--
you know, meet with DFS

1576
01:03:33.952 --> 01:03:36.249
and I could just focus
on product every day.

1577
01:03:36.284 --> 01:03:38.515
Crypto is
a brand new industry

1578
01:03:38.550 --> 01:03:41.551
and therefore, it is undefined.

1579
01:03:41.586 --> 01:03:45.390
We have to go educate the
government about what crypto is

1580
01:03:45.425 --> 01:03:47.931
and what the advantages are.

1581
01:03:47.966 --> 01:03:49.625
With innovation,

1582
01:03:49.660 --> 01:03:53.167
we're always going to come
against entrenched interests.

1583
01:03:53.202 --> 01:03:56.401
35 years ago,
when I started practising

1584
01:03:56.436 --> 01:03:58.007
shoe leather politics,

1585
01:03:58.042 --> 01:04:00.042
I was working for
National Semiconductor.

1586
01:04:00.077 --> 01:04:02.407
<i> Maybe someday</i>
<i>all watches will be made</i>

1587
01:04:02.442 --> 01:04:04.640
<i>like the Seiko Digital</i>
<i>Alarm Chronograph.</i>

1588
01:04:04.675 --> 01:04:08.017
Up until then,
all watches were mechanical.

1589
01:04:08.052 --> 01:04:09.953
The old watch industry

1590
01:04:10.648 --> 01:04:12.021
passed a law

1591
01:04:13.288 --> 01:04:15.453
forbidding any watch
in the United States

1592
01:04:15.488 --> 01:04:17.191
-that had a chip in it.
-Same old story.

1593
01:04:17.226 --> 01:04:20.029
We had to repeal that.
We repealed that law.

1594
01:04:21.098 --> 01:04:23.263
Being the CEO and founder

1595
01:04:23.298 --> 01:04:26.167
of the biggest company
in the industry,

1596
01:04:26.202 --> 01:04:28.466
Brian has that responsibility.

1597
01:04:29.271 --> 01:04:30.567
I was nervous that maybe

1598
01:04:30.602 --> 01:04:32.503
he wouldn't put on
a coat and tie.

1599
01:04:32.538 --> 01:04:35.407
In DC, it's about respect.

1600
01:04:35.442 --> 01:04:36.980
If you wear a turtleneck,

1601
01:04:37.015 --> 01:04:38.377
they're still
going to talk to you,

1602
01:04:38.412 --> 01:04:40.610
but it's going to
get them off focus.

1603
01:04:40.645 --> 01:04:43.448
They're going to be thinking
about the turtleneck.

1604
01:04:43.483 --> 01:04:47.089
Let's keep them on focus and
we can get right down to work.

1605
01:04:47.124 --> 01:04:51.126
We've all seen this movie
before. Just like the Internet,

1606
01:04:51.161 --> 01:04:53.524
we believe
that the crypto industry

1607
01:04:53.559 --> 01:04:56.461
is going to create
millions of jobs

1608
01:04:56.496 --> 01:05:00.069
if we can get
regulatory clarification.

1609
01:05:00.104 --> 01:05:02.731
One of the biggest
hindrance on this space

1610
01:05:02.766 --> 01:05:06.570
has been lack
of regulatory clarity.

1611
01:05:06.605 --> 01:05:09.177
The government
has a number of problems

1612
01:05:09.212 --> 01:05:10.640
in providing clarity for crypto.

1613
01:05:10.675 --> 01:05:12.708
The American financial
regulatory system

1614
01:05:12.743 --> 01:05:14.545
is insanely fragmented.

1615
01:05:14.580 --> 01:05:16.349
How's it going? Good.

1616
01:05:16.384 --> 01:05:18.087
The senator's just wrapping
up his prior meetings.

1617
01:05:18.122 --> 01:05:19.715
You've got The OCC,
you have the FDIC,

1618
01:05:19.750 --> 01:05:21.321
the Federal Reserve Board,

1619
01:05:21.356 --> 01:05:22.993
the Securities and
Exchange Commission,

1620
01:05:23.028 --> 01:05:24.423
the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission,

1621
01:05:24.458 --> 01:05:26.590
the Treasury Department, FinCEN.
It's crazy.

1622
01:05:26.625 --> 01:05:29.197
And then there's also
the state law issues.

1623
01:05:29.232 --> 01:05:31.562
And so, that multiplies
your problems

1624
01:05:31.597 --> 01:05:34.103
by 53 states and territories
who all have

1625
01:05:34.138 --> 01:05:35.764
to have some base of education

1626
01:05:35.799 --> 01:05:37.502
in order to figure out
how to apply their laws.

1627
01:05:37.537 --> 01:05:40.472
And they are going
to treat this thing

1628
01:05:40.507 --> 01:05:43.112
with respect to their
specific policy concerns.

1629
01:05:43.147 --> 01:05:45.642
The next meeting,
i-- is Pelosi's office.

1630
01:05:45.677 --> 01:05:48.381
Since we're in the Capital,
I'm going to tell her,

1631
01:05:48.416 --> 01:05:51.285
"Hey, just have somebody walk
us over at Schumer's office."

1632
01:05:51.320 --> 01:05:52.616
There might be some

1633
01:05:52.651 --> 01:05:54.288
anarchist type folks
that are like,

1634
01:05:54.323 --> 01:05:55.652
"Why would you ever meet
with the government?"

1635
01:05:55.687 --> 01:05:57.291
I love freedom
and I want there to be

1636
01:05:57.326 --> 01:05:58.754
an open financial
system for the world.

1637
01:05:58.789 --> 01:06:00.459
I also am a practical
person and I realize

1638
01:06:00.494 --> 01:06:02.197
we live in a country
that has laws

1639
01:06:02.232 --> 01:06:04.628
and I'm trying to navigate
a path through that.

1640
01:06:04.663 --> 01:06:06.498
We have a lot
of problems in our society

1641
01:06:06.533 --> 01:06:08.038
and the only way
you're gonna fix them

1642
01:06:08.073 --> 01:06:09.435
is if you change things.

1643
01:06:09.470 --> 01:06:11.701
So, changes
is a natural part of life.

1644
01:06:11.736 --> 01:06:14.374
And I think you
have to write your rules

1645
01:06:14.409 --> 01:06:16.178
and enforce your rules

1646
01:06:16.213 --> 01:06:18.741
in a way that recognizes
that change is going to happen.

1647
01:06:18.776 --> 01:06:20.776
We've got to embrace innovation.

1648
01:06:20.811 --> 01:06:22.712
We've got to let
people try things.

1649
01:06:22.747 --> 01:06:24.450
Some things are going to fail

1650
01:06:24.485 --> 01:06:26.122
and some things
are going to work.

1651
01:06:26.157 --> 01:06:28.091
But as long as we think
that it can be done

1652
01:06:28.126 --> 01:06:30.753
in a way that's consistent with
the rules in our marketplace,

1653
01:06:30.788 --> 01:06:33.822
we should let it go forward
and let investors decide.

1654
01:06:33.857 --> 01:06:37.199
Love the idea that a whole
new generation of people

1655
01:06:37.234 --> 01:06:39.267
is thinking about
solutions to problems

1656
01:06:39.302 --> 01:06:41.467
that have really plagued us
for a long time.

1657
01:06:41.502 --> 01:06:43.271
I couldn't really read him.

1658
01:06:43.306 --> 01:06:45.306
Is he just a very calm
and thoughtful and kind man

1659
01:06:45.341 --> 01:06:47.209
or was he disinterested?
I couldn't tell.

1660
01:06:47.244 --> 01:06:48.705
I think very much the former.

1661
01:06:48.740 --> 01:06:50.245
-Really?
-Yeah.

1662
01:06:50.280 --> 01:06:52.511
Yeah. He's quite stoic.

1663
01:06:52.546 --> 01:06:55.448
Most of the politicians
we've met are so extroverted

1664
01:06:55.483 --> 01:06:56.845
they're just-- they can't help

1665
01:06:56.880 --> 01:06:58.583
but, like, launch
into all these stories.

1666
01:06:58.618 --> 01:07:01.157
He was just like,
"Hmm, thank you for telling me."

1667
01:07:01.654 --> 01:07:03.555
And he wouldn't say
anything else.

1668
01:07:03.590 --> 01:07:05.161
He said he had
an engineering background,

1669
01:07:05.196 --> 01:07:07.262
-didn't he? So, maybe--
-Mm. A pattern.

1670
01:07:07.297 --> 01:07:08.857
-there's something to that.
-Yeah.

1671
01:07:08.892 --> 01:07:11.167
<i>I am here trying to build trust,</i>

1672
01:07:11.202 --> 01:07:13.829
<i>which says a lot to show up</i>
<i>in person and then meet people</i>

1673
01:07:13.864 --> 01:07:16.238
<i>that can't really be replicated</i>
<i>in any other way.</i>

1674
01:07:16.273 --> 01:07:18.306
<i>And hopefully when they meet me,</i>

1675
01:07:18.341 --> 01:07:20.737
<i>they realize I'm trying to do</i>
<i>something good in the world.</i>

1676
01:07:20.772 --> 01:07:22.343
Well, if there's
a bill introduced,

1677
01:07:22.378 --> 01:07:24.147
then they'd have
to go get educated on it.

1678
01:07:24.182 --> 01:07:26.413
Imagine that Electronic
Commerce Act,

1679
01:07:26.448 --> 01:07:27.645
so what if there was

1680
01:07:27.680 --> 01:07:29.185
-a crypto commerce act?
-Yeah.

1681
01:07:29.220 --> 01:07:30.483
I don't know,
I'm just making this up.

1682
01:07:30.518 --> 01:07:32.419
<i>But it's such a nebulous</i>
<i>concept,</i>

1683
01:07:32.454 --> 01:07:34.322
<i>to get all the different parties</i>
<i>to actually work together</i>

1684
01:07:34.357 --> 01:07:36.192
<i>is like pulling teeth.</i>

1685
01:07:36.227 --> 01:07:38.194
I think the way
to look at it is it's a game

1686
01:07:38.229 --> 01:07:40.163
and the government
makes the rules

1687
01:07:40.198 --> 01:07:42.858
and they can keep changing
the rules until they win.

1688
01:07:42.893 --> 01:07:44.596
And they have to win

1689
01:07:44.631 --> 01:07:48.501
because they have to collect
taxes, fight wars.

1690
01:07:48.536 --> 01:07:53.440
There's no way we're going to
live in some libertarian world

1691
01:07:53.475 --> 01:07:56.542
where there's no government
thanks to cryptocurrency.

1692
01:07:56.577 --> 01:07:57.774
That's just nonsense.

1693
01:08:03.716 --> 01:08:05.287
Crypto is just like

1694
01:08:05.322 --> 01:08:07.289
any new technology,
like the internet.

1695
01:08:07.324 --> 01:08:09.555
Are some bad people
gonna try to use it? Yes.

1696
01:08:09.590 --> 01:08:11.491
But the vast majority of people
in the world are good.

1697
01:08:11.526 --> 01:08:15.462
So, with appropriate controls
and protections and regulations,

1698
01:08:15.497 --> 01:08:17.266
you can mitigate the risk.

1699
01:08:17.301 --> 01:08:19.202
But 99% of people
in the world are good,

1700
01:08:19.237 --> 01:08:20.896
let's-- let's let them
use the new technology.

1701
01:08:20.931 --> 01:08:22.436
That's what propels
the world forward

1702
01:08:22.471 --> 01:08:24.207
and creates jobs

1703
01:08:24.242 --> 01:08:26.374
and improves human quality
of life and everything.

1704
01:08:26.409 --> 01:08:27.936
I don't wear a suit
too often for work.

1705
01:08:27.971 --> 01:08:31.313
But I'm going to DC.

1706
01:08:31.348 --> 01:08:33.216
When in Rome,
I guess, wear the suit.

1707
01:08:33.944 --> 01:08:35.746
Seems to help.

1708
01:08:35.781 --> 01:08:37.880
If you let people keep
the upsides of their success,

1709
01:08:37.915 --> 01:08:41.917
you get economic growth,
which benefits everybody.

1710
01:08:41.952 --> 01:08:43.391
I think it has
all these positive

1711
01:08:43.426 --> 01:08:44.854
downstream effects in society,

1712
01:08:44.889 --> 01:08:46.526
whether that's health metrics

1713
01:08:46.561 --> 01:08:48.528
like infant mortality
or around education

1714
01:08:48.563 --> 01:08:51.201
or how well
the environment is protected

1715
01:08:51.236 --> 01:08:52.862
or the income
of the poorest people.

1716
01:08:53.502 --> 01:08:55.271
Apparently,
it positively correlates

1717
01:08:55.306 --> 01:08:57.966
with, like, happiness
and society and less war.

1718
01:08:58.001 --> 01:08:59.836
So, I think that's what
cryptocurrency

1719
01:08:59.871 --> 01:09:01.244
can actually enable.

1720
01:09:02.610 --> 01:09:03.939
Ready to go.

1721
01:09:08.352 --> 01:09:11.980
We set a realistic
bar for ourselves.

1722
01:09:12.015 --> 01:09:16.325
Anyone who we felt like, yeah,
we had some synergy with,

1723
01:09:16.360 --> 01:09:18.756
<i>that</i> we counted as a huge win.

1724
01:09:18.791 --> 01:09:20.890
Hi, this is Brian Armstrong
from Coinbase.

1725
01:09:20.925 --> 01:09:22.958
I got a note that, uh,

1726
01:09:22.993 --> 01:09:24.960
Senator Schumer wanted
to connect real quick.

1727
01:09:24.995 --> 01:09:27.963
Because that meant
we can go back to that person

1728
01:09:27.998 --> 01:09:30.405
and continue the conversation.

1729
01:09:30.770 --> 01:09:32.242
Hello, Senator Schumer.

1730
01:09:36.743 --> 01:09:38.545
Yes, thank you for saying that.

1731
01:09:38.580 --> 01:09:39.975
I really appreciate
the time we had

1732
01:09:40.010 --> 01:09:41.350
and, uh, looking forward
to staying in touch.

1733
01:09:41.385 --> 01:09:42.450
Yeah, that was great.

1734
01:09:43.046 --> 01:09:44.749
Thank you so much.
Have a good day.

1735
01:09:45.917 --> 01:09:46.982
Bye.

1736
01:09:49.558 --> 01:09:50.920
All right.

1737
01:09:50.955 --> 01:09:52.295
He was real chatty,
wasn't he? Yes.

1738
01:09:52.330 --> 01:09:53.725
Well, he's busy.

1739
01:09:53.760 --> 01:09:56.464
But he said he wants
to keep-- keep in touch.

1740
01:09:56.499 --> 01:09:58.961
He wants to make sure I knew
that his door was open, so...

1741
01:09:58.996 --> 01:10:02.503
Whenever you talk to him on the
phone, he just about hangs up.

1742
01:10:03.000 --> 01:10:04.505
That's an efficient meeting.

1743
01:10:04.540 --> 01:10:05.671
I like-- I like
efficient meetings.

1744
01:10:07.444 --> 01:10:09.345
A lot of these people
we're meeting with,

1745
01:10:09.380 --> 01:10:10.874
they're very optimistic and
they're going to get it done.

1746
01:10:10.909 --> 01:10:12.843
But it's-- I mean,
it could take many, many years.

1747
01:10:17.322 --> 01:10:19.784
So, in the meantime,
we just kind of keep building.

1748
01:10:28.993 --> 01:10:30.960
<i> ... going</i>
<i>bananas over the weekend.</i>

1749
01:10:30.995 --> 01:10:34.667
<i>The cryptocurrency topping</i>
<i>61,000 for the first time ever.</i>

1750
01:10:34.702 --> 01:10:36.570
<i> What an exciting</i>
<i>three days we've had</i>

1751
01:10:36.605 --> 01:10:38.440
<i>for the coin ecosystem.</i>

1752
01:10:38.475 --> 01:10:40.068
<i> I'm sure.</i>
<i>I'm sure it has been</i>

1753
01:10:40.103 --> 01:10:42.840
<i>for all you Bitcoin followers</i>
<i>and watchers.</i>

1754
01:10:42.875 --> 01:10:46.382
Not long after we invested
in Coinbase, Brian emailed me

1755
01:10:46.417 --> 01:10:47.911
and he said, "Fred doesn't
own enough of this company.

1756
01:10:47.946 --> 01:10:49.913
I want to give him
some of my stock.

1757
01:10:49.948 --> 01:10:52.883
He's brought enormous value
to what we're doing,

1758
01:10:52.918 --> 01:10:54.918
and, you know,
I just really feel like

1759
01:10:54.953 --> 01:10:56.854
he needs to own more
and I'm going to

1760
01:10:56.889 --> 01:10:58.394
give him some of my stock.

1761
01:10:58.429 --> 01:10:59.725
Could you advise me
how to do it?"

1762
01:10:59.760 --> 01:11:01.397
And, you know,
ultimately it happened.

1763
01:11:02.367 --> 01:11:03.927
That never happens.

1764
01:11:03.962 --> 01:11:06.567
Like... Never does
somebody come and say,

1765
01:11:06.602 --> 01:11:08.404
"My co-founder
doesn't own enough.

1766
01:11:08.439 --> 01:11:10.703
I'm giving them more."
Like, it's always the opposite.

1767
01:11:10.738 --> 01:11:12.738
"I can't believe how much
I gave my co-founder.

1768
01:11:12.773 --> 01:11:13.838
They're not
carrying their weight.

1769
01:11:13.873 --> 01:11:15.576
I want to get rid of them."

1770
01:11:15.611 --> 01:11:17.776
Fred demonstrated
his value to Brian

1771
01:11:17.811 --> 01:11:19.712
and Brian matched it
with generosity.

1772
01:11:19.747 --> 01:11:23.815
That's a big part
of what binds them together.

1773
01:11:23.850 --> 01:11:25.718
Boom! Head shot.

1774
01:11:25.753 --> 01:11:27.489
Come on, there's lots of
other people in the field.

1775
01:11:27.524 --> 01:11:28.820
-I didn't know there's--
-Shoot other people.

1776
01:11:28.855 --> 01:11:30.690
-Sure.

1777
01:11:30.725 --> 01:11:32.560
We went through
building this company together,

1778
01:11:32.595 --> 01:11:35.431
which was incredibly challenging
and formative experience.

1779
01:11:35.466 --> 01:11:38.126
And it was really critical
to have a true friendship.

1780
01:11:38.161 --> 01:11:41.503
Your girlfriend posted
a picture of a kitten

1781
01:11:41.538 --> 01:11:44.836
that needs fostering and now
my girlfriend wants to adopt it.

1782
01:11:47.676 --> 01:11:48.741
How does this work?

1783
01:11:49.678 --> 01:11:51.513
The other way around.

1784
01:11:51.548 --> 01:11:52.681
-What do you mean?
-Oth-- Turn it upside down.

1785
01:11:53.517 --> 01:11:55.913
There are a number
of reasons why we work together

1786
01:11:55.948 --> 01:11:58.916
really well that also make
for a really great friendship.

1787
01:11:58.951 --> 01:12:01.589
That's something that I really
value and I think transcends

1788
01:12:01.624 --> 01:12:03.558
anything that happens
in the business.

1789
01:12:03.593 --> 01:12:05.120
Switch.

1790
01:12:05.155 --> 01:12:06.990
They built something
amazing together.

1791
01:12:07.025 --> 01:12:10.059
Fred remains on the board.
He's Brian's biggest supporter.

1792
01:12:10.094 --> 01:12:12.831
I have a very fun job now
on the board at Coinbase.

1793
01:12:12.866 --> 01:12:16.769
I just get to lob fruit
and rotten vegetables at Brian

1794
01:12:16.804 --> 01:12:20.168
and occasionally pitch in
my crazy crypto futuristic ideas

1795
01:12:20.203 --> 01:12:21.510
for the business.

1796
01:12:22.646 --> 01:12:25.514
I feel extremely privileged to
have been able to build

1797
01:12:25.549 --> 01:12:28.077
something that has gotten as big
as Coinbase has,

1798
01:12:28.112 --> 01:12:32.015
and I'm really excited about
doing that all over again

1799
01:12:32.050 --> 01:12:35.425
with Paradigm,
a crypto investment company

1800
01:12:35.460 --> 01:12:37.427
where we're helping
entrepreneurs

1801
01:12:37.462 --> 01:12:38.791
build the next things

1802
01:12:38.826 --> 01:12:40.430
that are going
to be world-changing.

1803
01:12:40.465 --> 01:12:41.992
So, that's, like,
an $80 million trade.

1804
01:12:42.027 --> 01:12:43.664
You can see, like, it routes on,
like, USDT .

1805
01:12:43.699 --> 01:12:45.435
<i>I think eventually</i>
<i>all of finance</i>

1806
01:12:45.470 --> 01:12:47.437
<i>will be built</i>
<i>on top of this technology.</i>

1807
01:12:47.472 --> 01:12:49.769
My sort of hope for Uniswap
is for it to be this

1808
01:12:49.804 --> 01:12:53.509
fared, uh, piece of the
financial infrastructure

1809
01:12:53.544 --> 01:12:56.809
that is powering this more
equitable financial system.

1810
01:12:56.844 --> 01:12:59.207
The word cryptocurrency implies

1811
01:12:59.242 --> 01:13:01.484
that crypto is just
about currency,

1812
01:13:01.519 --> 01:13:04.080
when actually crypto itself
is about much more.

1813
01:13:04.115 --> 01:13:07.523
I feel like this is
basically giving people

1814
01:13:07.558 --> 01:13:09.987
Goldman-Sachs-level
trading tools

1815
01:13:10.022 --> 01:13:11.956
in an interface
that anybody can use.

1816
01:13:11.991 --> 01:13:16.499
We're at the early stages of
a digital financial renaissance,

1817
01:13:16.534 --> 01:13:19.128
and I think it's really exciting
to see what this could mean.

1818
01:13:19.163 --> 01:13:21.669
Could we make finance
more inclusive?

1819
01:13:21.704 --> 01:13:24.573
Could we make finance
much more innovative?

1820
01:13:24.608 --> 01:13:26.102
There's definitely
a perception

1821
01:13:26.137 --> 01:13:29.105
of crypto as anarchists.

1822
01:13:29.140 --> 01:13:30.975
When you actually learn
about the community,

1823
01:13:31.010 --> 01:13:33.780
a lot of the people have
very reasonable beliefs

1824
01:13:33.815 --> 01:13:35.485
and they usually
kind of relate to

1825
01:13:35.520 --> 01:13:37.212
you know, wanting
to make a better world.

1826
01:13:37.247 --> 01:13:41.150
As society and civilization
become more complex,

1827
01:13:41.185 --> 01:13:43.218
more and more of
the things that we do,

1828
01:13:43.253 --> 01:13:46.760
do depend on large groups
of people's ability

1829
01:13:46.795 --> 01:13:48.630
to cooperate with each other.

1830
01:13:48.665 --> 01:13:51.028
The social layer
of any technology

1831
01:13:51.063 --> 01:13:53.030
is something that's, uh,
more important today

1832
01:13:53.065 --> 01:13:54.570
than it was 100 years ago.

1833
01:13:54.605 --> 01:13:56.000
Again, it's
definitely going to be

1834
01:13:56.035 --> 01:13:57.903
even more important
50 years in the future.

1835
01:13:57.938 --> 01:13:59.740
If you actually step back

1836
01:13:59.775 --> 01:14:03.612
and look at where we are
in literally, like, history,

1837
01:14:03.647 --> 01:14:06.879
this is a significant,
significant moment.

1838
01:14:06.914 --> 01:14:08.914
If you actually
want to do some shit

1839
01:14:08.949 --> 01:14:12.049
and you're not satisfied with
the way things are currently,

1840
01:14:12.084 --> 01:14:14.018
crypto is offering this promise

1841
01:14:14.053 --> 01:14:17.758
to effect real change for
so many people around the world.

1842
01:14:17.793 --> 01:14:19.892
All of us ultimately
want to change the world.

1843
01:14:19.927 --> 01:14:22.290
We want to create value
in the world, and we all feel

1844
01:14:22.325 --> 01:14:25.161
that this technology
might be the fastest way

1845
01:14:25.966 --> 01:14:28.263
of achieving the vision
that we have for the future.

1846
01:14:34.337 --> 01:14:36.909
It's history in
the making at the Nasdaq.

1847
01:14:36.944 --> 01:14:38.713
Welcome, welcome, welcome.

1848
01:14:38.748 --> 01:14:41.815
We have an exciting
morning here at the Nasdaq.

1849
01:14:41.850 --> 01:14:43.685
All right. Stand by.
Secondary line.

1850
01:14:43.720 --> 01:14:45.819
Crypto trading platform,
Coinbase

1851
01:14:45.854 --> 01:14:48.756
finally making its highly
anticipated Wall Street debut.

1852
01:14:48.791 --> 01:14:51.121
All right. The auction
will officially start at 10:10.

1853
01:14:51.156 --> 01:14:53.728
As it becomes
the first major crypto business

1854
01:14:53.763 --> 01:14:55.257
to go public
in the United States.

1855
01:14:55.292 --> 01:14:57.633
Eyeshadow, eyeliner
and bells on, ready to go.

1856
01:14:57.668 --> 01:15:00.966
Today is certainly an important
milestone for Coinbase,

1857
01:15:01.001 --> 01:15:03.232
but it's also an
important milestone

1858
01:15:03.267 --> 01:15:04.937
for the crypto industry.

1859
01:15:06.369 --> 01:15:08.138
If you want to give
it an early look,

1860
01:15:08.173 --> 01:15:09.909
um, and this is gonna-
this'll change

1861
01:15:09.944 --> 01:15:11.977
because, like, a lot of stuff
goes into the book

1862
01:15:12.012 --> 01:15:13.341
right around the time
the auction starts,

1863
01:15:13.376 --> 01:15:15.343
but right now
it's looking for $320.

1864
01:15:17.017 --> 01:15:18.984
-Hey, Benny.
-I'm just touching base. Uh,

1865
01:15:19.019 --> 01:15:21.283
this is super preliminary,
but it does feel like right

1866
01:15:21.318 --> 01:15:23.087
below three hundreds
is the right zip code.

1867
01:15:23.122 --> 01:15:25.826
Yeah, it's-- I feel very--
I feel very comfortable.

1868
01:15:25.861 --> 01:15:27.795
So, there's Jay Heller
that you're seeing right there.

1869
01:15:27.830 --> 01:15:30.666
So, he's actually on the phone
right now with Goldman Sachs,

1870
01:15:30.701 --> 01:15:33.196
and he's really giving them
very detailed information

1871
01:15:33.231 --> 01:15:35.165
where all the buyers
and all the sellers are

1872
01:15:35.200 --> 01:15:37.035
to make sure that we come up
with the right price

1873
01:15:37.070 --> 01:15:39.004
before we open up
the stock for trading.

1874
01:15:39.039 --> 01:15:40.643
<i>So, the auction will start</i>

1875
01:15:40.678 --> 01:15:42.711
<i>and the lights will</i>
<i>turn on at 10:10</i>

1876
01:15:42.746 --> 01:15:44.977
<i>and things will change in the</i>
<i>few seconds leading up to that.</i>

1877
01:15:45.012 --> 01:15:48.079
<i>But right now,</i>
<i>the auction clears at $310</i>

1878
01:15:48.114 --> 01:15:49.619
<i>on 1.6 million shares.</i>

1879
01:15:49.654 --> 01:15:51.148
<i>All the buying that we're seeing</i>

1880
01:15:51.183 --> 01:15:52.919
<i>as retail right now</i>
<i>that will change.</i>

1881
01:15:52.954 --> 01:15:54.019
<i>Institutions don't want</i>
<i>to show their hands</i>

1882
01:15:54.054 --> 01:15:55.757
<i>early before the auction starts.</i>

1883
01:15:55.792 --> 01:15:57.286
And the goal here is to--
is to open the stock at

1884
01:15:57.321 --> 01:15:59.222
at the right price
and as stable price as possible.

1885
01:15:59.257 --> 01:16:00.993
Not open it quickly.

1886
01:16:01.028 --> 01:16:02.962
Most important trading event
in-- in Coinbase's life.

1887
01:16:02.997 --> 01:16:04.832
<i>You're going to get it right,</i>

1888
01:16:04.867 --> 01:16:06.801
<i>but I hope you, uh,</i>
<i>all wore comfortable shoes</i>

1889
01:16:06.836 --> 01:16:08.132
<i>because this will take a while.</i>

1890
01:16:08.167 --> 01:16:09.837
Sounds good.
Thanks for the update.

1891
01:16:09.872 --> 01:16:11.707
<i> So, I'm gonna</i>
<i>go back to work.</i>

1892
01:16:11.742 --> 01:16:13.104
You should treat everything that
you hear on here as, uh--

1893
01:16:13.139 --> 01:16:14.908
as confidential.

1894
01:16:14.943 --> 01:16:16.811
<i>All right. Coinbase,</i>
<i>first update, demand's</i>

1895
01:16:16.846 --> 01:16:18.780
<i>been building all morning</i>
<i>on the Nasdaq auction.</i>

1896
01:16:18.815 --> 01:16:20.683
<i>The auction</i>
<i>will officially start...</i>

1897
01:16:20.718 --> 01:16:22.685
<i> I woke up with</i>
<i>fucking jet fuel in my legs.</i>

1898
01:16:22.720 --> 01:16:25.688
<i>I went for a run this morning.</i>
<i>It just went crushed.</i>

1899
01:16:25.723 --> 01:16:27.052
You're a better man than me,

1900
01:16:27.087 --> 01:16:29.725
getting up that early on--
on today.

1901
01:16:29.760 --> 01:16:31.287
-Going for a run.
<i>-What did you do?</i>

1902
01:16:31.322 --> 01:16:34.059
I-- I just woke up and came to
check in on the--

1903
01:16:34.094 --> 01:16:37.326
the livestream. I-- I'm not that
much of an early riser.

1904
01:16:37.361 --> 01:16:39.163
Hopefully, it all plays out
according to plan.

1905
01:16:41.739 --> 01:16:43.871
<i>-Yep.</i>
-All right.

1906
01:16:43.906 --> 01:16:46.874
<i>Hold on. All right.</i>
<i>Well, I guess I'll, uh--</i>

1907
01:16:46.909 --> 01:16:48.370
<i>-I'll see you on the Interwebs?</i>
-Yep.

1908
01:16:48.405 --> 01:16:50.713
-See you on the livestream.
<i>-All right, bye.</i>

1909
01:16:50.748 --> 01:16:51.813
All righty. Bye.

1910
01:16:52.310 --> 01:16:54.013
All right, the Coinbase
Nasdaq auction

1911
01:16:54.048 --> 01:16:56.279
is going to start
in, uh, two minutes at 10:10...

1912
01:16:56.314 --> 01:16:58.347
<i>There's no more</i>
<i>fun day on the trading floor.</i>

1913
01:16:58.382 --> 01:17:00.690
<i>Everyone gives me a fist bump</i>
<i>and says, "Game day, Benny."</i>

1914
01:17:00.725 --> 01:17:02.054
<i>And it is game day.</i>

1915
01:17:02.089 --> 01:17:03.825
-All right. Here we go.

1916
01:17:03.860 --> 01:17:05.420
There's the opening bell.

1917
01:17:05.455 --> 01:17:07.895
They're doing this countdowns
of, uh, 21 seconds,

1918
01:17:07.930 --> 01:17:11.228
symbolizing the 21 million
bitcoin that can be mined.

1919
01:17:11.263 --> 01:17:13.703
Right now, we're coming up
with what's called

1920
01:17:13.738 --> 01:17:17.740
an indicative price based off
of the supply and the demand.

1921
01:17:17.775 --> 01:17:19.434
A million and a half shares
of retail demand

1922
01:17:19.469 --> 01:17:21.370
came in in the last,
uh-- in the last second

1923
01:17:21.405 --> 01:17:23.075
before the auction started.

1924
01:17:23.110 --> 01:17:25.275
And so, the, uh-- the
first look in Coinbase

1925
01:17:25.310 --> 01:17:28.080
<i>is $340 on three million shares.</i>

1926
01:17:28.115 --> 01:17:30.852
<i>Coinbase first look,</i>
<i>$340 on three million.</i>

1927
01:17:30.887 --> 01:17:32.447
That wa-- that was
a bigger uptick in demand

1928
01:17:32.482 --> 01:17:34.053
than I would have expected.

1929
01:17:34.088 --> 01:17:35.417
-Wow.
-<i> I love Coinbase.</i>

1930
01:17:35.452 --> 01:17:36.924
And Cramer's on CNBC,

1931
01:17:36.959 --> 01:17:38.321
that'll be some more
upward pressure.

1932
01:17:38.356 --> 01:17:40.895
350 on four million.
Tick-tick-tick.

1933
01:17:40.930 --> 01:17:43.832
Current look,
350 on 5.2 million.

1934
01:17:48.806 --> 01:17:50.333
-Hello.
-<i> I'm gonna work with you</i>

1935
01:17:50.368 --> 01:17:52.203
<i>on audio and video.</i>
<i>Is there a way you</i>

1936
01:17:52.238 --> 01:17:54.436
<i>or somebody can tilt the</i>
<i>camera down a little bit for me</i>

1937
01:17:54.471 --> 01:17:56.339
<i>for framing?</i>

1938
01:17:56.374 --> 01:17:59.210
Yeah, let me try to-- let me try
putting it down just a tiny bit.

1939
01:17:59.245 --> 01:18:01.212
<i> It's the new world of TV.</i>

1940
01:18:03.480 --> 01:18:05.788
-How's that looking?
-<i> Thank you, sir.</i>

1941
01:18:08.155 --> 01:18:13.059
<i> Five, four,</i>
<i>three, two, one.</i>

1942
01:18:13.094 --> 01:18:14.962
<i>Good morning.</i>
<i>Uh, thank you, everybody,</i>

1943
01:18:14.997 --> 01:18:18.097
<i>for joining us on Coinbase's</i>
<i>big public listing day.</i>

1944
01:18:18.132 --> 01:18:19.868
<i>Brian, could you tell us</i>
<i>how you came up</i>

1945
01:18:19.903 --> 01:18:20.968
<i>with the idea for Coinbase?</i>

1946
01:18:21.003 --> 01:18:24.301
Yeah, sure. So, it was 2010,

1947
01:18:24.336 --> 01:18:26.776
and I was home for the holidays
at my parents' house,

1948
01:18:26.811 --> 01:18:28.305
and I happened to read
the Bitcoin Whitepaper

1949
01:18:28.340 --> 01:18:29.845
written by Satoshi Nakamoto.

1950
01:18:29.880 --> 01:18:31.077
-All right.

1951
01:18:31.112 --> 01:18:32.815
Still building here at Coinbase.

1952
01:18:32.850 --> 01:18:34.916
Plan is to open the stock
in the next 30 minutes.

1953
01:18:34.951 --> 01:18:36.181
We learned a new piece
of information

1954
01:18:36.216 --> 01:18:37.919
about 30 minutes out.

1955
01:18:37.954 --> 01:18:40.086
We were in this because
we wanted crypto to work,

1956
01:18:40.121 --> 01:18:42.319
we wanted there to be more
economic freedom in the world.

1957
01:18:42.354 --> 01:18:44.090
We are getting closer
in Coinbase,

1958
01:18:44.125 --> 01:18:45.487
377 on eight million.

1959
01:18:45.522 --> 01:18:47.027
So, finish your lunch.

1960
01:18:47.062 --> 01:18:48.798
Goldman Sachs,
when they are ready

1961
01:18:48.833 --> 01:18:50.492
to give us the green light
to open up the stock,

1962
01:18:50.527 --> 01:18:53.330
they will verbally repeat
the size of the order

1963
01:18:53.365 --> 01:18:55.970
as well as the indicative price.

1964
01:18:56.005 --> 01:18:58.104
People no longer
need to be scared of it

1965
01:18:58.139 --> 01:18:59.567
like in the early days.

1966
01:18:59.602 --> 01:19:01.206
The-- There's gonna be
a tremendous

1967
01:19:01.241 --> 01:19:02.339
amount of
activity here after the open.

1968
01:19:02.374 --> 01:19:04.110
Five-minute warning, Coinbase,

1969
01:19:04.145 --> 01:19:05.540
Get your flow. And if you're
sitting on the sidelines,

1970
01:19:05.575 --> 01:19:06.948
382 on 8.7 million,

1971
01:19:06.983 --> 01:19:08.411
Got stock to buy
on balance there

1972
01:19:08.446 --> 01:19:10.083
within five minutes,
standby for the open.

1973
01:19:10.118 --> 01:19:11.953
Don't go too far here
'cause I guarantee you,

1974
01:19:11.988 --> 01:19:13.889
um, we are getting close.

1975
01:19:13.924 --> 01:19:15.858
...truly is the new economy.
It has hundreds and thousands

1976
01:19:15.893 --> 01:19:17.486
of companies being
created in this space.

1977
01:19:17.521 --> 01:19:19.521
The stock will open
within the next two minutes.

1978
01:19:19.556 --> 01:19:22.029
I got the two-minute warning.
Two-minute warning.

1979
01:19:22.064 --> 01:19:25.164
How can we really leverage this
opportunity to create more jobs,

1980
01:19:25.199 --> 01:19:27.100
more economic growth for people

1981
01:19:27.135 --> 01:19:28.937
<i>in every country in the world</i>
<i>that embraces this?</i>

1982
01:19:28.972 --> 01:19:30.334
This is like the moment
at the wedding.

1983
01:19:30.369 --> 01:19:32.600
Speak now
or forever hold your peace.

1984
01:19:32.635 --> 01:19:35.174
All right. Here we go.
All right. Hi, guys.

1985
01:19:35.209 --> 01:19:37.077
Hey, man.

1986
01:19:37.112 --> 01:19:40.410
All right. I see the stock,
$381 on 8.83 million shares.

1987
01:19:43.019 --> 01:19:44.381
That is confirmed.
That is what I say.

1988
01:19:45.582 --> 01:19:46.856
Open the stock.

1989
01:19:47.254 --> 01:19:48.583
Opening at 381. Standby.

1990
01:19:53.590 --> 01:19:56.294
All right! There's nothing
cryptic about this!

1991
01:19:56.329 --> 01:20:00.232
The first public block of stock
in the blockchain,

1992
01:20:00.267 --> 01:20:04.874
the Coinbase Genesis trade
is 8.8 million shares at $381.

1993
01:20:04.909 --> 01:20:06.205
That's an of nearly

1994
01:20:06.240 --> 01:20:07.910
$3.5 billion,

1995
01:20:07.945 --> 01:20:10.077
the largest opening trade
in Nasdaq history.

1996
01:20:10.112 --> 01:20:12.574
I think the second largest trade
in exchange history.

1997
01:20:12.609 --> 01:20:16.545
-Let's go, Coinbase!

1998
01:20:16.580 --> 01:20:18.987
-We're opening at $381.

1999
01:20:19.022 --> 01:20:20.384
<i>All right, ladies and gentlemen,</i>

2000
01:20:20.419 --> 01:20:22.287
<i>we officially opened up</i>
<i>the stock</i>

2001
01:20:22.322 --> 01:20:25.455
<i>at $381 on 8.8 million shares.</i>

2002
01:20:25.490 --> 01:20:28.029
<i> It is a historic moment</i>
<i>for cryptocurrency.</i>

2003
01:20:28.064 --> 01:20:30.229
<i> The IPO is really</i>
<i>the start of the next phase</i>

2004
01:20:30.264 --> 01:20:33.166
<i>of adoption and the future</i>
<i>of the digital economy.</i>

2005
01:20:33.201 --> 01:20:36.532
Welcome to the Nasdaq family.

2006
01:20:36.567 --> 01:20:38.501
<i> And I--I</i>
<i>should mention, uh, we are live</i>

2007
01:20:38.536 --> 01:20:40.470
<i>and I can prove that we're live,</i>

2008
01:20:40.505 --> 01:20:43.044
<i>which is that, uh, Coinbase</i>
<i>stock is now listed and trading.</i>

2009
01:20:43.079 --> 01:20:45.112
<i>Uh, so, uh, congratulations.</i>

2010
01:20:45.147 --> 01:20:46.542
Oh, man, it's kind of--

2011
01:20:46.577 --> 01:20:48.379
it's kind of
an overwhelming, uh, moment.

2012
01:20:48.414 --> 01:20:50.282
There's so many things
happening, so many emotions.

2013
01:20:50.317 --> 01:20:53.219
And I mean-- Uh, the biggest
thing I just want to say

2014
01:20:53.254 --> 01:20:55.485
is that this is a--
entirely a group effort.

2015
01:20:55.520 --> 01:20:57.586
Like, the-- the customers that
helped us get here,

2016
01:20:57.621 --> 01:20:59.060
all the employees.

2017
01:20:59.095 --> 01:21:00.589
It's a really rare group
of people

2018
01:21:00.624 --> 01:21:02.327
who saw this trend early,

2019
01:21:02.362 --> 01:21:04.263
made a bet on it, came together

2020
01:21:04.298 --> 01:21:06.496
and I think it helped us
get to where we are today.

2021
01:21:06.531 --> 01:21:09.136
This is not the end. This is the
beginning. We all have a lot...

2022
01:21:09.171 --> 01:21:10.698
If you think about
the way the Internet changed

2023
01:21:10.733 --> 01:21:13.536
from, like, 95 to 2005,

2024
01:21:13.571 --> 01:21:18.079
I mean, from going--
from getting your AOL CD in

2025
01:21:18.114 --> 01:21:20.114
the-- in the-- in the post mail

2026
01:21:20.149 --> 01:21:22.952
to having an iPhone
in your pocket,

2027
01:21:22.987 --> 01:21:25.020
I mean, that's what
we're about to go through.

2028
01:21:25.055 --> 01:21:27.154
It's not
a once-in-a-decade thing.

2029
01:21:27.189 --> 01:21:29.255
It's a once-in-the-history-
of-the-human race thing.

2030
01:21:29.290 --> 01:21:33.457
I think that we'll see some of
the promise, the early promise

2031
01:21:33.492 --> 01:21:35.525
of this industry
really blossoming

2032
01:21:35.560 --> 01:21:38.693
into something that affects
people's daily lives,

2033
01:21:38.728 --> 01:21:41.531
in-- in-- in what I hope
is a positive way.

2034
01:21:41.566 --> 01:21:43.566
Cryptography has created

2035
01:21:43.601 --> 01:21:48.076
something very exciting
to highlight its true power,

2036
01:21:48.111 --> 01:21:51.046
and now it's gifted
us the opportunity

2037
01:21:51.081 --> 01:21:53.741
to do something, to make
the world a better place,

2038
01:21:53.776 --> 01:21:56.414
and this is the time to do it.

2039
01:21:57.351 --> 01:21:58.416
How's it going?

2040
01:21:59.155 --> 01:22:00.484
Um, I'm doing all right.

2041
01:22:01.190 --> 01:22:04.686
I slept a little bit last night.
Not much the night before.

2042
01:22:04.721 --> 01:22:06.754
<i>On the day Coinbase went public,</i>

2043
01:22:06.789 --> 01:22:10.032
<i>I briefly stepped out</i>
<i>to give my dad a call.</i>

2044
01:22:10.067 --> 01:22:12.298
<i>I feel like my</i>
<i>conversations with my dad</i>

2045
01:22:12.333 --> 01:22:13.398
<i>are pretty consistent.</i>

2046
01:22:13.433 --> 01:22:15.466
Yeah. Yeah, that's funny.

2047
01:22:15.501 --> 01:22:19.074
<i>He definitely makes sure</i>
<i>that I remain grounded</i>

2048
01:22:19.109 --> 01:22:21.241
<i>and I very much</i>
<i>appreciate that about him.</i>

2049
01:22:21.276 --> 01:22:24.640
We had been talking about this
for so long. I knew this

2050
01:22:24.675 --> 01:22:26.708
was going
to happen at some point.

2051
01:22:26.743 --> 01:22:29.315
It was a bit like
dropping your child off

2052
01:22:29.350 --> 01:22:31.185
on the first day of college.

2053
01:22:31.220 --> 01:22:34.023
You know if things go right,
there's a high probability

2054
01:22:34.058 --> 01:22:36.025
four years later
they're going to graduate.

2055
01:22:36.060 --> 01:22:37.620
Okay. Love you.

2056
01:22:37.655 --> 01:22:40.425
When I talked to Fred,
I had a-- several different

2057
01:22:40.460 --> 01:22:43.461
kind of feelings
running through my body. Um--

2058
01:22:44.629 --> 01:22:45.694
Um--

2059
01:22:53.572 --> 01:22:55.044
I think the, um...

2060
01:22:56.443 --> 01:22:58.443
... one feeling that, um...

2061
01:22:59.644 --> 01:23:02.447
I got really close to was...

2062
01:23:05.254 --> 01:23:06.319
was, um...

2063
01:23:07.784 --> 01:23:10.026
wish-- wishing my dad
could have seen it.

2064
01:23:10.688 --> 01:23:11.753
Um--

2065
01:23:16.562 --> 01:23:19.134
I was proud of Fred
before Coinbase,

2066
01:23:19.169 --> 01:23:21.631
and I look forward to
continuing to be proud of him.

2067
01:23:22.271 --> 01:23:24.073
Nobody knows for sure

2068
01:23:24.108 --> 01:23:25.701
how this technology revolution
is going to turn out.

2069
01:23:25.736 --> 01:23:27.769
Yeah, I don't know
that I understand it.

2070
01:23:27.804 --> 01:23:29.540
I really don't. But I do trust

2071
01:23:29.575 --> 01:23:31.806
-that Brian understands.

2072
01:23:31.841 --> 01:23:34.545
We're really proud
of what he has done,

2073
01:23:34.580 --> 01:23:37.614
not so much as a company,
which the company is amazing.

2074
01:23:37.649 --> 01:23:39.583
I mean, we kept
watching it and saying--

2075
01:23:39.618 --> 01:23:42.091
you know,
but it's just-- He's still

2076
01:23:42.126 --> 01:23:44.489
the kind, generous,
thoughtful person

2077
01:23:44.524 --> 01:23:46.260
that we grew up with, too.

2078
01:23:46.295 --> 01:23:49.593
So, we're proud of him
for both of those things.

2079
01:23:49.628 --> 01:23:50.858
I've never
really been good

2080
01:23:50.893 --> 01:23:52.728
at celebrating things.

2081
01:23:52.763 --> 01:23:55.236
I just like building things.
I'm always thinking like,

2082
01:23:55.271 --> 01:23:57.205
"All right, what's next?
What's next? What's next?

2083
01:23:58.208 --> 01:24:01.110
On IPO day,
I had a mix of emotions.

2084
01:24:03.147 --> 01:24:04.707
<i> All right! There's</i>
<i>nothing cryptic about this!</i>

2085
01:24:04.742 --> 01:24:08.414
As everyone
was focusing on the valuation

2086
01:24:08.449 --> 01:24:09.844
and the financial outcome,

2087
01:24:09.879 --> 01:24:11.879
I sent both Brian
and Fred a text.

2088
01:24:11.914 --> 01:24:14.354
<i> Largest opening trade</i>
<i>in Nasdaq history...</i>

2089
01:24:14.389 --> 01:24:17.555
And that text simply said,
"While everybody's celebrating,

2090
01:24:17.590 --> 01:24:19.194
the thing that I'm most proud of

2091
01:24:19.229 --> 01:24:21.229
is that you two
are still best friends."

2092
01:24:21.264 --> 01:24:25.662
-<i> Let's go, Coinbase!</i>

2093
01:24:25.697 --> 01:24:28.137
They're all clapping
on the trading--

2094
01:24:28.172 --> 01:24:31.140
-the trading floor.
-Holy shit.

2095
01:24:31.175 --> 01:24:32.570
You worked on the trading
floor--

2096
01:24:32.605 --> 01:24:34.407
That-- I, like,
literally sat right there.

2097
01:24:34.442 --> 01:24:36.673
There isn't a sliver
of light between them

2098
01:24:36.708 --> 01:24:38.774
that people can pierce to say

2099
01:24:38.809 --> 01:24:42.151
those two aren't as close
in reality as they appear to be.

2100
01:24:42.186 --> 01:24:46.287
And I think it is a fundamental
part of the success of Coinbase

2101
01:24:46.322 --> 01:24:47.585
and for them individually.

2102
01:24:49.754 --> 01:24:52.788
A Jackalope
is a fictional character, right?

2103
01:24:52.823 --> 01:24:54.592
What's a jackalope?

2104
01:24:54.627 --> 01:24:57.232
It's an antelope
and a jackrabbit.

2105
01:24:57.828 --> 01:25:00.235
Why do you never
see lizard eggs?

2106
01:25:01.469 --> 01:25:03.700
I assume they must lay eggs.
Right?

2107
01:25:04.670 --> 01:25:06.406
I wonder
what the frontiersmen thought

2108
01:25:06.441 --> 01:25:07.704
when they saw this.
Think, like,

2109
01:25:07.739 --> 01:25:09.640
"Oh, this is really
beautiful."

2110
01:25:09.675 --> 01:25:13.215
They're just, like, super on
task. "Gotta build this down."

2111
01:25:13.943 --> 01:25:15.943
-This is super cool.
-Wow.

2112
01:25:15.978 --> 01:25:17.879
It's machinery
to sift the gold out.

2113
01:25:17.914 --> 01:25:20.651
It's probably, like, pretty
advanced technology that, um...

2114
01:25:20.686 --> 01:25:22.455
Yup.

2115
01:25:22.490 --> 01:25:24.589
I wonder why they
call it the Wall Street Mill.

2116
01:25:24.624 --> 01:25:26.954
They left Wall Street
due to other opportunities,

2117
01:25:26.989 --> 01:25:29.396
-just like you.

2118
01:25:32.467 --> 01:25:34.302
I feel like we always fall
into a natural rhythm

2119
01:25:34.337 --> 01:25:36.205
where on hikes you go out first.

2120
01:25:37.307 --> 01:25:39.274
It just feels more natural for
some reason, I don't know why.

2121
01:25:39.309 --> 01:25:42.211
-Me walking first?
-Yeah, yeah.

2122
01:25:42.246 --> 01:25:43.311
I feel like that's--

2123
01:25:44.809 --> 01:25:47.282
There's probably a deeper
meaning in that thought.

2124
01:25:47.317 --> 01:25:48.910
Yeah.

2125
01:25:49.682 --> 01:25:51.781
Do you think you would've
made a good frontiersman?

2126
01:25:53.455 --> 01:25:57.292
-Mm... Questionable.