#627: Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase — The Art of Relentless Focus, Preparing for Full-Contact Entrepreneurship, Critical Forks in the Path, Handling Haters, The Wisdom of Paul Graham, Epigenetic Re

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase — The Art of Relentless Focus, Preparing for Full-Contact Entrepreneurship, Critical Forks in the Path, Handling Haters, The Wisdom of Paul Graham, Epigenetic Reprogramming, and Much More | Brought to you by ShipStation shipping software, Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, and Helix Sleep premium mattresses. Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Coinbase. Founded in 2012, Coinbase is building the crypto economy—a more fair, accessible, efficient, and transparent financial system enabled by crypto. Coinbase serves over 103 million verified users, 14,500 institutions, and 245,000 ecosystem partners in over 100 countries. In April 2021, Coinbase listed publicly on NASDAQ as COIN.  Before founding Coinbase, Brian served as a software engineer at Airbnb, where he focused on fraud prevention. Before Airbnb, Brian founded and was CEO of UniversityTutor.com, an online tutoring directory and a subsidiary of Johnson Educational Technologies LLC. Brian also previously served as a consultant for the enterprise risk management division at Deloitte & Touche LLP. Brian has a BA in computer science and economics and an MS in computer science from Rice University. Over the last three years, Coinbase has worked with ten-time Emmy®-winning filmmaker Greg Kohs on a documentary about cryptocurrency and Coinbase. COIN is now available on Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, Vimeo on Demand, and other platforms. Please enjoy! * This episode is brought to you by ShipStation! ShipStation integrates with every widely used platform—including Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Shopify, etc.—making it easy to manage all your shipping from one simple dashboard. Save time with consolidated order management and automated shipping updates for your customers. Easily compare carriers, rates, and delivery times to get the most out of every send. And get the same discounted shipping rates as Fortune 500 companies, whether you‘re sending a stack or a truckful. 98% of companies that use ShipStation for one year become customers for life, so join the 130,000+ companies who have grown their ecommerce businesses with ShipStation. Go to ShipStation.com today and sign up with promo code TIM for a FREE 60-day trial. Get set up before the biggest shipping season of the year, and get 2 months FREE when you visit ShipStation.com. Just click the microphone at the top and type in code TIM. * This episode is also brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the #1 overall mattress of 2020 by GQ magazine, Wired, Apartment Therapy, and many others. With Helix, there’s a specific mattress to meet each and every body’s unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk-free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, Helix is offering up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim. * This episode is also brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.  Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That’s up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive all-in-one daily greens product. * [05:46] How Brian’s first book idea became a blog. [07:21] Brian’s time in Buenos Aires. [13:39] Present-day economic warning signs. [16:13] Coinbase beginnings: from genesis to the Buy Bitcoin button. [20:35] Influential human beings, books, and documentaries. [23:15] Core principles learned from early startup days. [26:39] Favorite Paul Graham essays. [28:12] Controversy: Coinbase becomes an apolitical, mission-focused company. [37:11] Cultivating resilience to resistance as a leader. [44:57] Competition. [46:51] What crypto skeptics and crypto bulls each get wrong often. [49:30] Main use cases for crypto. [50:18] Making the case that crypto is still in early days. [54:55] Novel crypto ideas Brian thinks will prove worthwhile. [59:57] Lessons learned from the launch of Coinbase’s NFT marketplace. [1:03:44] How Coinbase is addressing NFT security. [1:05:34] “Not your keys, not your crypto.” [1:10:56] Self-improvement. [1:14:14] Learning biology basics from a tutor as an adult. [1:20:03] The goals of NewLimit. [1:27:32] What is ResearchHub? [1:31:41] How open bounties work. [1:33:25] What excites Brian most about science today? [1:36:52] Brian’s billboard. [1:38:24] Parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books. 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