Original text: When Shift Happens

Compiled & organized by: Yuliya, PANews

"Chewing glass while staring into the abyss." This may be the most accurate portrayal of Brian Armstrong, the founder and CEO of Coinbase, over the past thirteen years of his entrepreneurial journey. Starting from nothing in 2012 when Bitcoin was worth just $6, to now steering a publicly traded company valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, his path has not been smooth, but rather filled with chaos, burnout, lawsuits, and sharp political attacks.

In this episode of When Shift Happens, Brian Armstrong shares his transformation from an introverted engineer to a world-class business leader, unique insights into the psychology of founders, practical strategies for tackling tough challenges, and his profound thoughts on cryptocurrency, wealth, the meaning of life, and the future. PANews has selected and translated parts of this podcast.

The Starting Point and Original Intention of Entrepreneurship

Host: You once said that Coinbase's mission is to "increase global economic freedom." What drives this mission?

Brian: The mission of Coinbase is to enhance global economic freedom, while my personal mission is to accelerate the progress of the world through science and technology. Although my upbringing was not particularly special, such as not escaping from a country where wealth was stripped away, I lived in Argentina for a year and witnessed social turmoil due to hyperinflation. These experiences gave me a deep understanding of the efficiency and fairness of financial systems and ignited my passion for continuous optimization, learning, and building. As a child, I loved playing strategy games like "Civilization," managing resources and building infrastructure, and this sense of "building" later extended to entrepreneurship and product development.

Host: How did you develop such a strong interest in the world of Bitcoin and blockchain?

Brian: I studied computer science and economics, and I appreciate the principles of free market economics, having personally experienced hyperinflation in Argentina. While working at Airbnb, I discovered the inefficiency of the global financial system, where many people could not access basic financial services.

The Bitcoin white paper showed me that blockchain could provide everyone with economic freedom, just like the internet. As long as you have a smartphone, you can have secure wealth and participate in the global economy, which excited me and ultimately led me to quit my job and start a business.

Host: How long did it take you to build this "full commitment" confidence?

Brian: From the first time I read the Bitcoin white paper in December 2010 to the official establishment of Coinbase in July 2012, it took about a year and a half. During this time, I experienced self-doubt due to the complexity of Bitcoin and my friends' lack of understanding. However, what truly motivated me to make a decision was being accepted into the startup incubator Y Combinator. I was not successful in my first application to Y Combinator, but after applying a second time, I received support and secured $150,000 in startup funding. This funding gave me the confidence to quit my previous job and fully commit to entrepreneurship, deciding to spend a few years trying to achieve my goals.

Host: How do you feel about being called the "bald founder" by others?

Brian: I noticed my hair thinning in my twenties and ultimately chose to shave my head. Although I initially felt uncomfortable, everyone has their own insecurities; the key is to learn to accept them and view them with humor. While the "bald founder" joke circulates in the crypto community, it doesn't hold any real significance. I do not hold biases against others based on their appearance.

The Thorny Path of Coinbase: Building Trust Amid Compliance, Lawsuits, and Chaos

Host: If you were to introduce Coinbase to a layperson who doesn't understand technology, how would you describe it?

Brian: Coinbase is the simplest platform for buying, storing, and using cryptocurrency. We are not just an exchange and custodian; we also provide services like payments, loans, and credit cards. In the future, Coinbase will function like a bank, becoming a gateway for users to access better financial services. Even if users do not understand crypto technology, they can easily use Coinbase to send money, take out loans, or raise funds, just as people use light bulbs or the internet without needing to understand the underlying principles; they just enjoy the convenience.

Coinbase's ultimate goal is for a billion or more people to access the open financial system through Coinbase's application every day. This will serve as a replacement for banks and brokerages, providing all financial services through one application, thereby increasing economic freedom globally and allowing anyone with a smartphone to participate.

Host: When you founded Coinbase in 2012, Bitcoin was only worth $6. Thirteen years later, Coinbase is valued at $100 billion and is listed on NASDAQ. You have taken a difficult compliance path. What does it take to build the world's largest exchange by following the compliance route and not taking shortcuts?

Brian: This is definitely a long-term endeavor. Communicating with regulators and legislators requires a lot of work, as they often do not act quickly, but eventually, they will take action. Even if the law does not require it, we will do things that we believe may be required in the future, or at least things that a rational person would consider reasonable in the absence of clarity.

For example, setting up the company in the U.S. instead of going to some offshore tax haven. In the early days, I would wear a suit to talk to these people. Sometimes they had no idea what we were doing and would ask me, "Isn't this just a video game?" Some banks would say, "We don't work with cryptocurrency companies."

I found that if people only saw us online, they would be very skeptical. But once they met us in person, they would trust us more. They could feel that we, although young and perhaps a bit naive, were not bad people; we were trying to do something good for the world.

The development of cryptocurrency has gone through a process of being ignored to being accepted. Initially, people either laughed at or ignored cryptocurrency, but as the industry grew, some began to see it as a threat to the financial system and way of life. We realized that there were two forces opposing us: Senator Elizabeth Warren and former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

We suddenly began receiving very strange actions from the SEC. We met with them about 30 times, asking them to provide clear rules, and we were more than willing to comply. But the response we received was, "We won't tell you. Go talk to your lawyer."

I realized that they just wanted to illegally eliminate the entire industry. If we did not fight back, the entire industry (at least in the U.S.) could be stifled. I felt a responsibility to defend our customers' rights. At that time, about 50 million Americans had used cryptocurrency, which was what the American people wanted, but a small group of activists within the government was trying to illegally stifle it.

I realized that we, as an industry, had to build political power. So we funded Stand with Crypto, allowing about 2 million people to express their desire to elect pro-crypto candidates; we created scorecards for every member of Congress; we donated to Fairshake (a super PAC); and we also sued the SEC.

I am proud that we did these things. When I talk to customers, they are most grateful for this. They say, "Thank you for standing up against these people and defending our rights." This ultimately became a huge brand-building moment for Coinbase.

Host: Besides the departure of your co-founder, can you share another of the most difficult moments in Coinbase's history?

Brian: There have been many such moments. Starting a company is like that old saying, "chewing glass while staring into the abyss." You have to constantly do things that are outside your comfort zone.

To some extent, I even enjoy doing difficult things because it allows me to improve over time; that is the process of growth. But honestly, there are similar situations almost every week. For example, I have to have a difficult conversation with someone to tell them they are being let go, or that they need to improve in some area; or we cannot acquire a certain company, shattering their dreams.

Additionally, being sued by the federal government, testifying in Congress, having negative articles about you read by millions in mainstream media, experiencing a cybersecurity incident that results in a $100 million loss, where you have to compensate and publicly admit mistakes and reflect. Running a company involves countless difficult situations.

Survival Rules on Leadership, Collaboration, and Growth Through Adversity

Host: You mentioned that you were an introverted child and even felt somewhat reclusive. Many people believe that the best entrepreneurs often have tendencies toward introversion or childhood trauma. What are your thoughts on this?

Brian: I agree with this view; many founders do indeed have tendencies toward introversion or ADHD, which brings strong focus and creativity. Of course, this is just a simplified categorization. More importantly, many entrepreneurs' early motivations stem from some negative emotions, such as fear, anger, or a desire for recognition. For example, I was afraid of not being recognized or not being good enough as a child, and this motivation needs to shift to more positive goals, such as learning, growth, and influence, once the company achieves a certain level of success; otherwise, it is easy to fall into burnout.

Host: In a collaborative relationship, how do you handle disagreements?

Brian: My co-founder Fred Ehrsam and I agree about 90-95% of the time, but there are disagreements in the remaining 5%. To avoid dissatisfaction arising from authority-based decisions, we designed a simple method: both parties assess the importance of an issue on a scale of 1 to 5 and reveal their scores simultaneously. Whoever has the higher score gets to execute their way.

This method not only quickly resolves disagreements but also determines whether the other party genuinely cares about the issue or is just enjoying the debate. We have never had a situation where both parties scored 5. If there is a tie, we might decide by flipping a coin. Additionally, if something is executed according to one person's way but the outcome is not ideal, that person is responsible for resolving the issue. This strategy helped us efficiently advance the company's development in the early days, laying the foundation for Coinbase's success.

Host: Your co-founder Fred left the company in 2017. How did you feel at that time?

Brian: It was indeed difficult at that time; I even felt a sense of abandonment and worried that employees would be shaken by it. But Fred handled it well; he communicated his thoughts with me and the executives a year in advance and chose to leave when both the company and the market were on the rise, helping the company transition smoothly to a more professional leadership team. This openness and sense of responsibility have kept us good friends to this day.

His departure actually helped the company usher in a second "founder's moment," transitioning from a decision-making structure primarily led by him and me to Brian taking on the role of CEO and building a true leadership team around him. This helped the company move towards professionalism and laid the foundation for its later status as a publicly traded company. This experience also allowed me to grow in leadership, learning to face difficulties and challenges.

Host: How did you accept the departure of your co-founder without feeling like you were "working for him" (working for the shares he held) while he pursued the next exciting thing?

Brian: This is a very practical question. First, the "vesting" mechanism of shares is important. The standard in Silicon Valley is usually four years, but that is for employees. I believe for founders, a longer vesting period should be set, such as ten years. Any project worth doing is just getting started after four years.

Secondly, if you, as a founder, have fully vested your shares, I believe there is a valid reason to approach the board to request new equity incentives. When you become a larger company, there are compensation committees and various due diligence and governance mechanisms to handle these matters. There are even specialized lawyers who can represent you as a founder in negotiations with the board.

This is a tough job, so you need to feel that you can share in the dividends of the company's growth. Some founders, even after their shares have fully vested, still feel that if the company's value doubles or triples, they have significant upside potential. So ultimately, this is a personal choice for everyone.

Host: Do you think a company can maintain excellent performance in the long term without a founder CEO?

Brian: Founder CEOs have a unique advantage in driving innovation and creating value, but without excellent operators to complement them, it can lead to chaotic company operations. The combination of a founder CEO and excellent operators can maximize enterprise value, as the former excels in innovation while the latter ensures efficient operations.

Regarding succession planning, it is a complex and difficult task, much like the transfer of power in a country or civilization. Take Apple as an example; when Jobs passed away, the board chose the safer successor, Cook, and achieved great success. However, most boards tend to avoid risks and choose more conservative leaders, which may limit the company's innovative potential.

Even if a founder leaves, the company can inject the "founder gene" into the organization by acquiring other founder-led companies or nurturing internal talent to maintain innovation and competitiveness. This process, while challenging, is crucial for long-term development.

Host: What are your thoughts on independent founders?

Brian: Independent founders are viable, but the key is to find people who can complement you. This complementary relationship can come from co-founders or from the leadership or executive team. It is essential to seek out those who inspire "awe" in you—people who excel in their respective fields and can propose novel ideas that push you to improve and keep pace with them. This relationship is like a marriage, where both parties can challenge each other and promote mutual growth. While there may be disagreements in such teamwork, when it operates well, it significantly enhances individual and team performance.

Host: Building a business is already very difficult, and you also have to deal with volatile markets, crazy bear markets, and now confrontations with the U.S. political system and banks. You have persisted for 13 years, experiencing multiple bull and bear cycles, stock price crashes, the departure of co-founders, and significant corrections after the IPO… How do you maintain long-term commitment under pressure without breaking down?

Brian: I never give up, no matter how many failures I face; as long as the goal is clear, I will persevere. Determination is one of the most important qualities in entrepreneurship, even more so than intelligence, creativity, or fundraising ability. Of course, not every day is filled with motivation; sometimes I wake up feeling frustrated, but I still strive to adjust my mindset and keep moving forward.

Host: What should one do when experiencing extreme anxiety or burnout?

Brian: Work-related stress can affect physical and mental health in various ways, such as weight changes or severe back pain. The most important things are sleep, exercise, and nutrition. I occasionally listen to motivational videos by David Goggins to adjust my mindset. When the pressure is high, I force myself to take breaks, exercise, and spend time with family and friends, and usually, I can recover after 48 hours.

In the early stages of entrepreneurship, you can push hard for a short time, but to sustain it for decades, you must find a sustainable rhythm. Every few years, I feel burnout, which usually means I need to delegate some work or completely change my way of working.

Host: Many entrepreneurs dream of becoming someone like you. What do you think entrepreneurs most easily overlook?

Brian: I think many people actually do not pursue what they truly want to do; they are afraid to take that step. Many entrepreneurs tell me, "In the future, I want to do something big, but for now, I'll start with something small." In fact, everyone should be bolder in pursuing grander goals. I was the same way; in the early days, I only wanted to run a small business, but later I kept setting bigger goals for myself, like "starting a tech company worth a billion dollars." When you dare to set ambitious goals and think about the path to achieve them every day, it attracts more talented people to join and makes it easier to achieve significant breakthroughs. Any truly valuable grand endeavor may take at least ten years. This is a lesson I have learned as I have grown older.

Host: What is one thing you have learned in the past 20 years that will benefit me for the rest of my life?

Brian: One of my favorite lessons is: "Action generates information." If you don't know what to do, just take action; even if you make mistakes, you can get feedback and adjust quickly. Many people fall into analysis paralysis, while continuous small steps forward are the key to breakthroughs.

The Next Chapter of the Crypto World: A Blueprint for Privacy, On-Chain, and Open Finance

Host: What is your understanding of economic freedom?

Brian: Economic freedom is essentially self-sovereignty—your money is under your control. Inflation hurts the lower strata of society the most because the wealthy can invest in anti-inflation assets (like real estate, gold, Bitcoin), while the poor can only hold cash, which is like a regressive tax. Cryptocurrency allows anyone to securely store wealth on their phone and transfer it anywhere in the world at any time, protecting property from government abuse or arbitrary confiscation. This is not only financial innovation but also the foundation for global economic fairness and freedom.

Host: Many early crypto OGs have recently become more focused on privacy. What role do projects like Zcash play in creating more economic freedom?

Brian: I believe privacy is extremely important, especially in our financial lives. It is almost as sensitive as your health information. What surprises me is how cryptocurrency has developed so significantly under the default of "pseudonymity," with all transactions, including amounts and timestamps, recorded on a public ledger.

Early projects focused on privacy, like Zcash or Monero, especially Monero, which is nearly 100% private, had some early adopters involved in illegal activities, leading to the perception that "isn't this just used by bad people?"

My point is, privacy is very important, and we need to achieve it in cryptocurrency. I believe the way to achieve this is to start with those default public chains (like Ethereum, Base, Solana) and offer an optional, private transaction type. This way, you can say, "Look, 99% of the activity on this chain is legitimate, and now there are also legitimate people using private transactions." This is very similar to the early transition from HTTP to HTTPS on the internet. We acquired a company called Iron Fish, which is working to provide a private transaction feature on the Base chain, allowing anyone to pay a slightly higher Gas fee to use it.

Host: You once tweeted that the traditional fundraising process is outdated and that capital formation should happen on-chain. Why?

Brian: Many things are moving on-chain, and every asset class is doing so. This is what Coinbase is currently working on. We want to enable people not only to trade every type of crypto asset but also to trade stocks, prediction markets, commodities, energy, and more.

The traditional startup fundraising process is extremely inefficient. Founders spend three months having hundreds of meetings, facing countless rejections, with legal fees reaching millions of dollars. This can be done more efficiently on-chain, with lower costs, faster speeds, and more global participation. We recently acquired two companies, Ecko and Liquify, to help achieve this goal. In my ideal world, any entrepreneur could press a button in our app to establish a company on-chain, obtain a business account, and then raise funds with one click.

Host: In a world where everything is moving on-chain, what role do centralized exchanges like Coinbase and Binance play?

Brian: We have long believed that everything will increasingly take place on-chain, so we have invested heavily in this area and have already integrated decentralized exchanges (DEX) into our main application, currently supporting trading of over 40,000 assets, with plans to expand to millions in the future. Additionally, Coinbase has launched a fully on-chain self-custody wallet Base app, fully embracing the trend of on-chain migration.

The Ultimate Game: A Perspective on Life Beyond Wealth and the Creator Mindset

Host: How did you feel on the day of the IPO and the day after?

Brian: Due to the pandemic, I did not go to NASDAQ to ring the bell but spent that moment at home. Although this was an important milestone in my life, I did not feel much at the time due to the busyness and fatigue.

What truly resonated with me was the thousands of messages I received afterward, many employees and investors became millionaires that day, telling me how it changed their lives and allowed their families to buy houses, etc. This had a tremendous emotional impact on me, and I will never forget it.

Host: What does it feel like to become a billionaire?

Brian: I am quite happy, or more accurately, I feel "very fulfilled." Walking the path I am good at and can contribute value to the world gives me satisfaction. Although I sometimes feel pressure and burnout, these are signs of growth.

To be honest, having wealth or becoming a billionaire allows you to accomplish more things. But it does not truly change your level of happiness.

Money is more like a KPI or benchmark, measuring whether I am doing the right things in creating value for the world. It is a way to keep score in this game and gives you the resources to do other things.

Host: For you, when does a career count as a great success?

Brian: Even if I am already in a position to retire, I still hope to dedicate my life to entrepreneurship and creation. The motivation of an entrepreneur is not merely for personal wealth but to accumulate capital to support more meaningful endeavors.

Host: As a high-intensity entrepreneur, how do you balance your career with personal relationships? When did you realize you needed to take your romantic life seriously?

Brian: It is important to find a partner who can support and complement each other, regardless of gender. The key is to invest time and energy into nurturing the relationship, just like running a company. Now that I am married, my romantic life greatly helps my career, making me more focused and motivated. For entrepreneurs, emotional bandwidth is indeed limited, but if you keep neglecting it, you may feel lonely after achieving success.

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