#222 Brian Armstrong - Co-Founder & CEO of Coinbase

Shawn Ryan Show

Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.9 • 38.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2025

⏱️ 189 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brian Armstrong, born in San Jose, California, is the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, which he launched in 2012 with Fred Ehrsam. A Y Combinator alumnus, Armstrong grew up in a middle-class family and earned a B.A. in Economics and Computer Science from Rice University in 2005, followed by an M.S. in Computer Science in 2006. Before founding Coinbase, he worked as a software engineer at Airbnb developing anti-fraud tools and founded UniversityTutor.com, an online tutoring marketplace. Under his leadership, Coinbase went public via direct listing in 2021, reaching a $100 billion valuation. As of 2025, it serves over 110 million users with a market cap around $60 billion. A Forbes-listed billionaire with a net worth of approximately $10 billion, Armstrong is a vocal advocate for clear crypto regulation. He founded the Stand With Crypto PAC in 2023 to support pro-crypto politicians, promotes decentralized identity solutions, and has pledged 99% of his wealth to charity through the Giving Pledge. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: https://betterhelp.com/srs This episode is sponsored. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/srs and get on your way to being your best self. https://bunkr.life – USE CODE SRS Go to https://bunkr.life/SRS and use code “SRS” to get your 25% off your family plan https://shawnlikesgold.com https://helixsleep.com/srs https://rocketmoney.com/srs https://ROKA.com – USE CODE SRS https://ziprecruiter.com/srs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I've ruled out uni because I want to live at home.
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1:06.0	Brian Armstrong.
1:07.5	Welcome to the show.
1:08.4	Thanks for having me.
1:09.7	My pleasure.
1:13.9	I've been looking forward to talking to you for quite some time, so thank you for making the trip.
1:21.4	But, yeah, you have a lot of stuff going on right now, and even outside of crypto, and we'll dive into that later. But everybody starts off with an introduction, so here we go.
1:25.6	Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Coinbase,
1:29.3	the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange.
	...

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