Encore: Crypto Wars | Block Busting | 4

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2023

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s 2015 and Coinbase is out to carve up the crypto scene with its new exchange. But it’s about to face strong headwinds in the form of state regulators, banks, and the Winklevoss twins’ new startup Gemini. And as Coinbase’s growth slows, CEO Brian Armstrong faces pressure to abandon crypto.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:06.3	This series originally aired in
0:08.7	2021
0:18.9	January 2015 San Francisco. It's almost 6 a.m. In Coinbase's office, there's a pajama party going on.
0:27.6	Employees and PJs crowd around a screen fixed onto the wall.
0:32.8	On the screen is a countdown and there's less than five minutes to go.
0:37.9	At a desk at the opposite end of the room is CEO Brian Armstrong.
0:42.8	He lifts his headphones off his bald scalp and stretches. It's almost showtime.
0:49.3	Coinbase is about to launch its new Bitcoin exchange. Armstrong is sure it'll be a game-changer.
0:55.8	American Bitcoin investors will finally have a homegrown exchange that takes security and regulation seriously.
1:03.3	They won't have to send money to shady offshore websites anymore.
1:08.3	Armstrong stands up to join the team. As he walks over, co-founder Fred Ursum joins him.
1:15.2	Ursum buzzes around him high on excitement and energy drinks.
1:19.9	This is it, Brian. All the Winkelvosses have his talk. We've got an actual exchange and it's ready to go.
1:26.4	Armstrong frowns. He's trying to forget about the Winkelvoss twins.
1:31.0	Two days ago, the twins announced their return to the Bitcoin battlefield with Gemini.
1:36.4	It's also going to be a US licensed exchange and a direct rival to Coinbase's new Bitcoin marketplace.
1:44.2	Gemini is still months away from launch but the twins' celebrity snatched the media spotlight away
1:50.2	from Coinbase's big day. Armstrong turns to Ursum. Are you going to get the pep talk?
1:57.4	Of course. Ursum gets the team's attention.
2:01.4	Hey everyone, are you ready?
2:04.8	The sleepy team murmurs. Ursum scals.
	...

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