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Coinbase wants to make cryptocurrencies mainstream finally. Of course, Bitcoin and Ethereum are nothing new. However, the whole crypto madness is still pretty overwhelming and intimidating for most people, and Coinbase is working to change that.
They have big goals and big money. With more than 56 million users, the company just recently went public by getting listed in the Nasdaq stock exchange.
We often talk about companies going public in this show, but this is different because it is the first time a fully crypto-oriented company did it. As a result, many expect this unprecedented move to mark the beginning of a new era of legitimization and trust in the crypto industry.
It’s not a cryptocurrency
By the way, no, Coinbase is not a cryptocurrency. Instead, it’s an exchange — a platform for investors and consumers of all kinds to buy, sell and trade these digital assets. Plus, it does many things that we’ll discuss in this article.
Their ultimate goal is to lead the crypto-economy revolution, to change the financial system as profoundly as the internet did with information and communication. They want to make digital currencies accessible for everyone to fulfill their financial needs, leaving conventional banks out of the equation.
But they’re not the first ones to go after this. Competition has increased, and there are even some iconic failures. Just look at the popular Japanese exchange Mt Gox, where some 850,000 Bitcoin disappeared in 2014. And that is just one example.
Things have changed quite a lot in the last seven years, but what is different about Coinbase? Is it going to become the next giant of the crypto era?
The origins of Coinbase
Brian Armstrong, the founder of Coinbase, first worked as a software engineer at Airbnb. He experienced the struggle to make money transactions between consumers and contractors…
