Coinbase

Coinbase is a Bitcoin company in the Exchanges category, founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong, Fred Ehrsam.

The Idea

Make buying Bitcoin as easy as buying a stock. Armstrong built the initial product after going through Y Combinator ($150K seed), and Fred Ehrsam joined after seeing Armstrong's posts on Reddit.

Early Traction

Transaction volume rose 100x in 2013 from $15m at the start of the year, and further increased after the Mt. Gox failure in 2014. $5m check from Union Square Ventures, and $25m investment from A16z, USV, and Ribbit Capital in December 2013. The largest institutional capital into the industry at the time. This allowed for banking relationships with Silicon Valley Bank and brought credibility to the industry.

Peak Stats

IPO'd on April 14, 2021 via direct listing at a ~$85B valuation. Revenue peaked at $7.8B in 2021. Over 100M verified users.

Status Today

Publicly traded on NASDAQ (COIN). Market cap fluctuates but has stabilized as one of the largest pure-play digital asset companies globally. Acquired Xapo's custody business ($55M, 2019), and custodies more Bitcoin than any other firm globally today.