Brian Armstrong is an American business executive, investor, and CEO of the cryptocurrency platform Coinbase.
He gained media attention for his policy of keeping the workplace free of political activism.
Armstrong was born near San Jose, California in 1983. Both of his parents were engineers.
He attended Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Catholic all-male private secondary school.
He earned a dual bachelor’s degree in economics and computer science in 2005, followed by a master’s in computer science in 2006 from Rice University in Texas.
During his time at Rice, he started a business matching tutors to students.
Armstrong’s early career included working as a developer for IBM and as a consultant at Deloitte. In 2010, he came across the Bitcoin white paper published under the alias Satoshi Nakamoto.
In 2011, he joined Airbnb as a software engineer, where he was exposed to payment systems in the 190 countries Airbnb operated in at the time.
While at Airbnb, he saw the difficulties of sending money to South America. He began working on writing code in Ruby and JavaScript to buy and store crypto coins.
In 2012, Armstrong co-founded Coinbase with Fred Ehrsam as a way for cryptocurrency enthusiasts to trade bitcoins and other digital currencies.
A 2018 funding round valued the company at $8.1 billion, and in December 2020, the company filed with the SEC to go public through a direct listing.
Following a direct listing in April 2021, Coinbase’s market capitalization rose to $85B, and according to Forbes, as of May 2022, Armstrong has a net worth of $2.4 billion.
Armstrong appeared in the 2014 documentary The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin. He was featured in the 2020 nonfiction book Kings of Crypto: One Startup’s Quest to Take Cryptocurrency Out of Silicon Valley and Onto Wall Street. Armstrong and Coinbase were also the subject of the documentary COIN: A Founder’s Story.
Armstrong self-funded and founded the scientific research site ResearchHub as a way of making research papers available to the public.
Armstrong wrote a blog post in September 2020 discouraging employee activism and discussion of political and social issues at work.
He offered severance packages for Coinbase employees uncomfortable with this policy, resulting in 60 employees leaving the company. Prior to this, Armstrong supported the Black Lives Matter movement and tweeted when George Floyd was murdered.
Armstrong was ranked #10 on Fortune’s 40 under 40 lists in 2017. In 2019, he was named to Time magazine’s 100 Next lists.
In 2021, Forbes named Armstrong #1 on its Crypto Rich List, with an estimated net worth of $6.5 billion as of February 2021. He was also listed 60th on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America.
In 2018, Armstrong became the first cryptocurrency executive to sign the Giving Pledge, pledging to give away the bulk of his wealth to philanthropic causes.
He also set up a philanthropic effort called GiveCrypto.org to help people living in poverty.
Who is Raline Shah? Brian Armstrong’s Wife
Brian Armstrong is married to Raline Shah.
Raline Shah, an Indonesian actress, and model, has been making a name for herself in the international film industry.
Born on March 4, 1985, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Shah began her career as a model before transitioning to acting.
She has since appeared in several Indonesian films, including “5 cm” and “The Sinking of Van Der Wijck,” as well as international productions such as “Beyond Skyline” and “Triple Threat.”
Shah’s ability to seamlessly transition from Indonesian to international films has earned her recognition and praise from audiences and industry professionals alike.
In recent news, rumors have surfaced that Shah and her long-time partner, Armstrong, were married in September 2021 in a private ceremony in Indonesia.
While these reports have yet to be confirmed, fans of the actress are eagerly awaiting official confirmation of the news.
Shah has always kept her personal life private and out of the public eye, and it is no surprise that her alleged marriage was conducted in secrecy.
Aiva Arthur
