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Conversations with Tyler

Brian Armstrong on the Crypto Economy

Conversations with Tyler

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2021

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Brian Armstrong first recognized the potential of cryptocurrencies after witnessing firsthand the tragic consequences of hyperinflation in Argentina. Coinbase, the company he co-founded, aims to provide the primary financial accounts for the crypto economy. Their success in accomplishing this, he says, is due as much to their innovative approach to regulation as it is anything technological.

Brian joined Tyler to discuss how he prevents Coinbase from being run by its lawyers, the value of having a mission statement, what a world with many more crypto billionaires would look like, why the volatility of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is more feature than bug, the potential for scalability in Ethereum 2.0, his best guess on the real identity of Satoshi, the biggest obstacle facing new charter cities, the meta rules he'd institute for new Martian colony, the importance of bridging the gap between academics and entrepreneurs, the future of crypto regulation, the benefits of stablecoin for the unbanked, his strongest and weakest interpersonal skill, what he hopes to learn from composing electronic music, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded January 14th, 2022

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,

0:08.4

bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.

0:12.6

Learn more at mercatis.org.

0:15.2

And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit

0:20.4

ConversationsWithT Tyler.com.

0:26.0

Hello everyone and welcome back to ConversationsWithT Tyler.

0:30.0

I am very honored to be here with Brian Armstrong, who is the CEO and co-founder of Coinbase.

0:36.4

Brian, welcome.

0:37.4

Thank you Tyler, appreciate it.

0:39.5

Now one another podcast, you said that Coinbase employs about 60 or 70 lawyers.

0:45.1

What makes a manager good at managing lawyers in particular?

0:48.7

I'm not sure if it's too different from general management of people.

0:53.0

I think you have to care about them and care about their growth and give them clear direction,

0:57.7

but also autonomy and accountability and all those things.

1:00.8

Yeah, I'm not sure what is too different about managing lawyers.

1:03.0

I think there are people just like everybody else.

1:05.0

But there's a kind of tech caricature of say companies in the Northeast that end up being

1:09.6

run by their lawyers.

1:11.1

And you have a company with a lot of lawyers, but it seems you haven't ended up being run

1:14.6

by your lawyers.

1:15.6

Yes, well that's definitely true as a cultural thing.

1:18.3

I would agree with that.

...

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