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Tag: Brian armstrong

  • As billionaires chase immortality, this startup cofounded by a Harvard genetics professor gets FDA approval for the first partial de-aging human trial | Fortune

    A startup cofounded by a renowned Harvard geneticist has taken a step toward cracking the human body’s biological breakdown by securing FDA approval to test its cutting-edge gene therapy on humans.

    Life Biosciences, a biotech company cofounded by Harvard genetics professor David Sinclair, said Wednesday it had secured approval for a Phase 1 clinical trial aiming, in part, to restore vision in people with eye conditions such as glaucoma and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) through “partial epigenetic reprogramming.” During the trial, researchers will attempt to turn back the biological clock on damaged cells in a person’s eye by directly injecting it. This allows the therapy to reach damaged retinal ganglion cells and deliver “rejuvenation instructions” directly to the target cells to help restore their function and potentially reverse vision loss.

    The company will enroll its first patients over the next couple of months, with results potentially coming by the end of the year or early next year, CEO Jerry McLaughlin told Fortune.

    McLaughlin, a pharmaceutical industry veteran who previously worked at Merck and at venture-backed biotechs such as Neos Therapeutics and AgeneBio said the approval was groundbreaking: “It’s a transformational day, I think, for science overall, for Life Biosciences, for the field of partial epigenetic reprogramming,” he said.

    The FDA approval, which McLaughlin said researchers in his industry have been waiting on for years, puts the lean Life Biosciences team (fewer than 20 people) ahead of the pack, as the longevity boom is increasingly being underwritten by billionaire money. 

    Altos Labs, one of the highest-profile bets on cell rejuvenation, launched with $3 billion in funding in 2022 and reportedly counts Amazon founder and the world’s fourth-wealthiest person Jeff Bezos as an early backer. Meanwhile, NewLimit, the longevity startup cofounded by billionaire Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong last year raised $130 million in Series B financing, to pursue epigenetic reprogramming. Even Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and the richest man in the world, has recently entered the longevity chat, saying at Davos aging is a “very solvable problem.” 

    Tackling vision loss first

    Rather than focus on full-body de-aging, Life Biosciences’ is taking a “staged approach” to de-aging, first tackling optic neuropathies, conditions in which damage to the optic nerve erodes vision. The trial aims to restore some vision in both patients with glaucoma and NAION—both of which can cause blindness. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and it’s especially prevalent in adults between the ages of 64 and 84. NAION, meanwhile, is the “most common acute, optic neuropathy” in people over 50. McLaughlin said the company chose to focus on these diseases partly because of their outsized impact on patients.

    “The bad news is there’s absolutely nothing to treat [NAION], and the even worse news is that there’s about a 20-to-30% chance in the next two to three years it’s going to happen in the second eye,” he said.

    McLaughlin said Life Biosciences is already applying its epigenetic reprogramming to help treat other conditions. The company previously saw success in treating liver fibrosis, or MASH, which he said showed the company’s approach “transcends organs.” 

    While the company is first focused on helping patients with vision loss, McLaughlin isn’t ignorant about the potentially giant opportunity opening up thanks to a rapidly aging global population.

    “Our population replacement is not there in the U.S. We’re well below population replacement,” said McLaughlin. “It’s worse in other parts of the world, and with a rapidly aging population, extending healthy human lifespan is critical, from an economic standpoint, and for society overall.”

    The world’s cumulative fertility rate has been dropping for years, but the U.S. fertility rate, in particular, hit a record low in 2024, at 1.6 children per woman, below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. The country’s fertility rate is on par with other advanced economies, such as Iceland and the United Kingdom, according to data from the World Bank. Others come in even lower, like Japan, which recorded a fertility rate of 1.15 births per woman in 2024, according to a local government agency.

    The science behind Life Biosciences

    Life Biosciences cofounder and Harvard geneticist Sinclair is the key behind the company’s FDA breakthrough. Previously Sinclair, who earned a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the University of New South Wales, led pioneering research on partial epigenetic reprogramming, partially de-aging cells by modifying their epigenome, biochemical markers that tell genes when to turn on or off without altering the underlying DNA sequence.  

    Sinclair’s research showed that, by using three of four proteins that Nobel-prize winning Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka previously found could fully reset the age of a stem cell to pluripotency—or a blank state—researchers could rejuvenate cells without resetting them so fully that they “forget” their original function. Partially resetting the cells had more potential for therapeutic uses because these cells “maintain” their identity, as they partially de-age, unlike the fully reset cells that “forget” their function and can turn into tumors.

    Sinclair laid the foundation for his work using mice in preclinical trials, Life Biosciences then licensed the technology from Harvard and Sinclair’s lab to test on non-human primates to better match the human eye’s anatomy.

    In those studies, McLaughlin said, Life Biosciences induced a NAION-like injury and then used the treatment to reverse the vision loss and restore it to that of a healthy primate.

    Despite the increasing competition in the space, McLaughlin isn’t scared of competitors, and he said the large amount of money and activity in the longevity space is warranted. Following the FDA approval, more companies may even follow Life Biosciences’ footsteps and focus more on epigenetic reprogramming, he said, which could overall be positive for the field.

    “We believe this has some of the highest prospects, best prospects, in aging science—partial epigenetic reprogramming,” he said. “As we continue to generate evidence, evidence is only going to bring more people to the field.”

    This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

    Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

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  • These are the 37 donors helping pay for Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says his $300 million White House ballroom will be paid for “100% by me and some friends of mine.”

    The White House released a list of 37 donors, including crypto billionaires, charitable organizations, sports team owners, powerful financiers, tech and tobacco giants, media companies, longtime supporters of Republican causes and several of the president’s neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida.

    It’s incomplete. Among others, the list doesn’t include Carrier Group, which offered to donate an HVAC system for the ballroom, and artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, whose CEO, Jensen Huang, publicly discussed its donation.

    The White House hasn’t said how much each donor is giving, and almost none was willing to divulge that. Very few commented on their contributions when contacted by The Associated Press.

    A senior White House official said the list has grown since it was first released in October, but some companies don’t want to be publicly named until required to do so by financial disclosure regulations. No foreign individuals or entities were among the donors, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that haven’t been made public.

    Here’s a look at the divulged donors:

    Tech giants (8):

    Amazon Background: Trump was once highly critical of company founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, but has been much less so lately. Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, an event attended by Bezos. Its video streaming service paid $40 million to license a documentary about first lady Melania Trump. Its cloud-based computing operation, Amazon Web Services, is a major government contractor.

    Apple Background: After an up-and-down relationship during Trump’s first term, CEO Tim Cook has sought to improve his standing with the president this time. Before returning to the White House, Trump hosted Cook at his Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago, and said he had spoken with Cook about the company’s long-running tax battles with the European Union. Cook also donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. In the spring, Trump threatened the computing giant with tariffs after Apple announced plans to build manufacturing facilities in India. In August, Cook presented the president with a customized glass plaque with a gold base as the CEO announced plans to bring Apple’s total investment commitment in U.S. manufacturing over four years to $600 billion.

    Google Background: During his first term, Trump’s administration sued Google for antitrust violations. While a candidate last year, Trump suggested he might seek to break up the search engine behemoth. Once Trump won the election, Google donated $1 million to his inauguration, and its CEO, Sundar Pichai, joined other major tech executives in attending the ceremony. Google’s subsidiary, YouTube, agreed in September to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit with Trump after it suspended his account following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. According to court filings, $22 million of that went to the Trust for the National Mall, which can help pay for ballroom construction.

    HP Background: An original Silicon Valley stalwart, the company donated to Trump’s inaugural fund. HP ‘s CEO, Enrique Lores, participated in a White House roundtable event in September. Lores also previously met with President Joe Biden at the White House on multiple occasions as top CEOs endorsed that administration’s economic plans.

    Meta Background: Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been critical of Trump going back to 2016, and Facebook suspended Trump for years after the Jan. 6 insurrection. This time around, Meta contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, and Zuckerberg attended.

    Micron Technology Background: The producer of advanced memory computer chips announced an April 2024 agreement with the Biden administration to provide $6.1 billion in government support for Micron to make chips domestically. Then, in June, Micron pledged $200 billion for U.S. memory chip manufacturing expansion under Trump. But at least $120 billion of that involved holdovers first announced during Biden’s administration.

    Microsoft Background: The company donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, twice what it spent for Biden’s or for Trump’s first inauguration. CEO Satya Nadella has also met with Trump numerous times, as Microsoft has supported the administration’s relaxation of regulations on artificial intelligence. He met previously with Biden, too. Trump has called for Microsoft’s president of global affairs, Lisa Monaco, to be fired because she was a deputy attorney general under Biden when the Justice Department led several investigations against Trump.

    Palantir Technologies Background: Co-founded by billionaire libertarian Peter Thiel, the firm concentrates on artificial intelligence and machine learning. It has seen profits soar thanks to lucrative defense and other federal contracts.

    Crypto (5):

    Coinbase Background: The major cryptocurrency exchange was founded by Brian Armstrong, a top donor to a political action committee that helped Trump and other pro-crypto candidates in 2024. Armstrong attended the first crypto summit at the White House in March. Coinbase also hired Trump’s co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, to its Global Advisory Council.

    Ripple Background: In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped a lawsuit filed during Trump’s first term, which accused the company of violating securities laws by selling XRP crypto coins without a securities registration. In his second term, Trump has eased regulations on digital assets, repealing an SEC accounting rule and a previous presidential executive order mandating more federal study and proposed changes to crypto regulations.

    Tether Background: A cryptocurrency company and major stablecoin issuer, Tether paid fines for misleading investors. CEO Paolo Ardoino has been to Trump’s White House, and, in April, the company hired former Trump administration crypto policy official Bo Hines to lead its domestic expansion efforts.

    Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss Background: Each Winklevoss twin is listed as a separate donor. Best known as Zuckerberg’s chief antagonists in “The Social Network,” the brothers founded the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange. Biden’s SEC sued Gemini for selling unregistered securities, but the case has been paused under Trump.

    Energy and industrial (4):

    Caterpillar Background: The equipment maker ‘s PAC has donated to candidates from both parties, but given more to Republicans. It has also said publicly that Trump’s tariffs, some of which the administration has now eased, could increase its costs and hurt earnings.

    NextEra Energy Background: NextEra is the world’s largest electric utility holding company. Trump says he’ll work to ensure tech giants can secure their own sources of electricity to power data centers, especially as they expand energy-hogging artificial intelligence operations. Google recently entered into an agreement to buy power from a shuttered nuclear power plant in Iowa owned by NextEra, which the company plans to bring back online in 2029.

    Paolo Tiramani Background: An American industrial designer who has donated to Trump’s political campaigns. Tiramani, with his son, runs BOXABL, a firm specializing in modular, prefabricated homes.

    Union Pacific Background: Trump has endorsed the company’s proposed $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern, which would be the largest-ever rail merger. It also will be up to the president to appoint two more Republican members of the Surface Transportation Board, who will ultimately decide whether to approve the merger. In August, Trump fired one of the two Democratic members of the board.

    Philanthropy (3):

    Adelson Family Foundation Background: Founded to strengthen the state of Israel and the Jewish people, the foundation was created by Miriam Adelson, the majority owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, close Trump ally and longtime GOP megadonor. She’s also the widow of Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire founder and owner of Las Vegas Sands.

    Betty Wold Johnson Foundation Background: Based in Palm Beach, the foundation supports health, arts and culture initiatives, as well as environmental and educational programs. It’s named in honor of the mother of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom during his first term.

    Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation Background: The nonprofit based in Lake Worth Beach, near Palm Beach, focuses on promoting health care, social justice, the arts and community initiatives. Isaac is an Israeli American businessman and financier and former chair of Marvel Entertainment. He and his wife have donated to Trump’s presidential campaigns and affiliated PACs.

    Trump administration officials (3):

    Benjamin Leon Jr. Background: The Cuban American founder of Miami-based Leon Medical Centers is Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Spain.

    Kelly Loeffler and Jeffrey Sprecher Background: A former Republican senator from Georgia, Loeffler heads Trump’s Small Business Administration. Her husband is CEO of the energy market Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and chairs the New York Stock Exchange. The couple faced scrutiny in 2020 for dumping substantial portions of their portfolio and purchasing new stocks, including in firms making protective equipment, after Congress received briefings on the severity of the coming coronavirus pandemic.

    Lutnick Family Background: Howard Lutnick is Trump’s commerce secretary. A crypto enthusiast, he once headed the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald.

    Communications/entertainment (3):

    Comcast Background: The mass media and telecom conglomerate has often been criticized by Trump, including in April, when the president posted that Comcast was a “disgrace to the integrity of broadcasting.” The company owns NBC and is spinning off MSNBC. It could be interested in acquiring Warner Bros. Discover, and that would leave Comcast looking for government approval.

    Hard Rock International Background: A Florida-based gaming and tourism concern owned by the Seminole Tribe, the company operates a number of casinos, including the former Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Trump has for decades criticized federal exemptions allowing tribes to operate casinos.

    T-Mobile Background: The wireless carrier is indirectly linked to Trump Mobile, which the president’s family controls and offers gold phones and cell service in a licensing deal. Trump Mobile uses Liberty Mobile Wireless, a small, Florida-based network that T-Mobile says runs its operations on T-Mobile’s network. T-Mobile says that is unrelated to its decision to donate to Trump’s ballroom, which it says is meant to “restore and enrich the historic landmarks that define our nation’s capital.”

    Big Tobacco (2):

    Altria Group Background: The tobacco giant controls Philip Morris USA, maker of Marlboro. It has pressed for federal crackdowns on counterfeit and illegal vaping products. The company donated $50,000 to Trump’s inauguration.

    Reynolds American Background: With brands including Lucky Strike and Camel, the company has been active in lobbying to steer the Trump administration away from a Biden-proposed ban on menthol cigarettes.

    Defense/national security (2):

    Booz Allen Hamilton Background: A major defense and national security technology firm with extensive government contracts, it paid fines to settle lawsuits with the Justice Department under Biden. Booz Allen Hamilton agreed to pay more than $377 million in 2023 to settle allegations that it improperly billing costs to its government contracts. In January, it paid nearly $16 million to settle allegations that it submitted fraudulent claims in connection with government contracts.

    Lockheed Martin Corporation Background: The massive defense contractor has huge government contracts. It said in a statement that it “is grateful for the opportunity to help bring the President’s vision to reality and make this addition to the People’s House.”

    Individuals (7):

    Stefan E. Brodie Background: A biotech entrepreneur and co-founder of the chemical manufacturing company Purolite, Brodie and his family donated to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and affiliated committees. Brodie and his brother, Donald, were convicted in 2002 of circumventing U.S. sanctions on Cuba.

    Charles and Marissa Cascarilla Background: Charles Cascarilla is co‑founder of the blockchain firm Paxos. He and his wife are philanthropists who have advocated for financial technology sector deregulation.

    J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul Background: Longtime Republican donors and Palm Beach residents, the couple controls U.S. sugar refining interests that includes the Domino brand.

    Edward and Shari Glazer Background: Members of the family that owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has a controlling stake in the Manchester United football club, the couple donated to Trump’s campaign. Edward is the founder and CEO of US Property Trust, which operates shopping centers, and the car dealership company US Auto Trust.

    Harold Hamm Background: The billionaire oil tycoon and pioneer of hydraulic fracturing heads the oil producer Continental Resources. He’s praised the Trump administration for aggressively moving to purchase oil to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve stockpile.

    Stephen A. Schwarzman Background: A Palm Beach resident and chair and CEO of the Blackstone Group, a global private equity firm he helped establish in 1985. Schwarzman has donated to Trump and his PACs previously and led his first-term President’s Strategic and Policy Forum.

    Konstantin Sokolov Background: Born in Russia, he immigrated to the U.S. and now heads the Chicago-based private equity firm IJS Investments. Sokolov has donated to many educational and charitable causes in the past, and to Trump’s political campaigns.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

    ___

    This story has been updated to correct the first name of an individual who donated to the White House ballroom. He is Harold Hamm, not Howard Hamm.

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  • Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong trolls the prediction markets | TechCrunch

    On Thursday, at the end of Coinbase’s third quarter earnings call, CEO Brian Armstrong admitted that he was “a little bit distracted,” because he’d been “tracking the prediction market about what Coinbase will say on their next earnings call.”

    “And I just want to add here the words Bitcoin, Ethereum, Blockchain, Staking, and Web3 to make sure we get those in before the end of the call,” Armstrong added.

    Why blurt those out without any apparent context? As Armstrong hinted, they were words that users on “mention markets” on Kalshi and Polymarket had wagered would be spoken on the call. So by speaking the words, Armstrong was allowing some of those bets to pay off.

    Bloomberg reports that while mention markets remain a relatively niche part of prediction markets, a total of $84,000 had been bet on whether certain words would be spoken on the cryptocurrency company’s call. And while Armstrong may have helped some Kalshi and Polymarket users make a little money, he was also illustrating how easily these markets can be manipulated when executives become aware of them.

    In fact, Jeff Dorman, CIO at digital assets investment firm Arca, wrote on X that “you need your head examined if you think it’s cute or clever or savvy that the CEO of the biggest company in this industry openly manipulated a market.”

    “It’s not fun working tirelessly for 8 years trying to educate institutional investors on the value of crypto investing as an investable asset class, and working to help them gain comfort in this industry, while one of the supposed ‘leaders’ openly mocks the industry with crap like this,” Dorman said.

    Polymarket, meanwhile, posted that Armstrong’s comments were “diabolical work.”

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    Coinbase is moving into supporting prediction markets itself through its Everything Exchange, which Armstrong touted on the earnings call, and the company has also invested in Kalshi and Polymarket. A Coinbase spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company prohibits employees from participating in prediction markets or related activity around the company.

    After Armstrong’s remarks began drawing attention, he wrote on X, “lol this was fun – happened spontaneously when someone on our team dropped a link in the chat.”

    Anthony Ha

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  • Coinbase CEO explains why he fired engineers who didn’t try AI immediately | TechCrunch

    It’s hard to find programmers these days who aren’t using AI coding assistants in some capacity, especially to write the repetitive, mundane bits.

    But those who refused to try the tools when Coinbase bought enterprise licenses for GitHub Copilot and Cursor got promptly fired, CEO Brian Armstrong said this week on John Collison’s podcast “Cheeky Pint.” (Collison is the co-founder and president of the payments company Stripe.)

    After getting licenses to cover every engineer, some at the cryptocurrency exchange warned Armstrong that adoption would be slow, predicting it would take months to get even half the engineers using AI. 

    Armstrong was shocked at the thought. “I went rogue,” he said, and posted a mandate in the company’s main engineering Slack channel. “I said, ‘AI is important. We need you to all learn it and at least onboard. You don’t have to use it every day yet until we do some training, but at least onboard by the end of the week. And if not, I’m hosting a meeting on Saturday with everybody who hasn’t done it and I’d like to meet with you to understand why.’” 

    At the meeting, some people had reasonable explanations for not getting their AI assistant accounts set up during the week, like being on vacation, Armstrong said.

    “I jumped on this call on Saturday and there were a couple people that had not done it. Some of them had a good reason, because they were just getting back from some trip or something, and some of them didn’t [have a good reason]. And they got fired.”

    Armstrong admits that it was a “heavy-handed approach” and there were people in the company who “didn’t like it.”

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    While it doesn’t sound like very many people were fired, Armstrong said it sent a clear message that AI is not optional. Still, everything about that story is wild: that there were engineers who wouldn’t spend a few minutes of their week signing up for and testing the AI assistant — the most hyped tech for coders ever — and that Armstrong was willing to fire them over it.

    Coinbase did not respond to a request for comment.

    Since then, Armstrong has leaned further into the training. He said the company hosts monthly meetings where teams who have mastered creative ways to use AI share what they have learned.

    Interestingly, Collison, who has been programming since childhood, questioned how much companies should be relying on AI-generated code.

    “It’s clear that it is very helpful to have AI helping you write code. It’s not clear how you run an AI-coded code base,” he commented. Armstrong replied, “I agree.”

    Indeed, as TechCrunch previously reported, a former OpenAI engineer described that company’s central code repository as “a bit of a dumping ground.” The engineer said management had begun dedicating engineering resources to improve the situation.

    We’re always looking to evolve, and by providing some insight into your perspective and feedback into TechCrunch and our coverage and events, you can help us! Fill out this survey to let us know how we’re doing and get the chance to win a prize in return!

    Julie Bort

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  • Coinbase Custody Accounts For 90% Of All Bitcoin ETFs – Details

    Coinbase Custody Accounts For 90% Of All Bitcoin ETFs – Details

    Coinbase Custody reportedly now holds over 90% of all Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. This development was revealed by the crypto exchange’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, while appraising the company’s performance in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023.

    Coinbase Emerges As Major Player In Bitcoin ETF Market

    In an X post on February 16, Brian Armstrong shared specific highlights of Coinbase’s achievement in Q4 2023. In particular, He noted that the American crypto exchange has played a crucial part in facilitating the adoption of cryptocurrencies by traditional financial firms (TradFi).

    A major part of this adoption is the Bitcoin ETF market which is worth $37 billion, ranking as the second largest commodity ETF market after Gold. Armstrong noted that Coinbase has played a significant role in this development, serving as custodian for 90% of the investment funds in the Bitcoin ETF market.

    For context, a custodian is a regulated financial institution that holds customers’ securities and assets, providing protection against any form of loss or theft. Notably, Coinbase is listed as the custodian for eight of the 11 recently launched Bitcoin spot ETFs. These include BlackRock’s IBIT, Ark Invest’s ARKB, Bitwise’s BITB, and Grayscale’s GBTC, among others.

    These statistics indicate that Coinbase is well placed to record larger milestones as the top traditional financial institutions are tipped to finally invest in Bitcoin ETFs, especially upon the proven success and stability of the Bitcoin spot ETFs.

    According to Armstrong, other notable Coinbase achievements in Q4 2024 include the launch of the exchange’s international wing, and the layer-2 blockchain solution Base. The crypto exchange also claimed to slash its annual costs by 45% while generating a total income of $3.1 billion.

    Looking Forward To 2024

    In retrospect to 2024, Armstrong stated that Coinbase will maintain focus on its international expansion and new derivatives products. In addition, they will aim to promote the adoption of crypto payments by transforming the Coinbase wallet into a super app. 

    Finally, the exchange CEO states that Coinbase will continue to advocate for a clear regulatory framework applicable to the crypto space. Armstrong says that Coinbase is committed to this course and is willing to explore all means, including legal processes as well as engaging the federal legislators.

    

COIN trading at $180.28 on the trading chart | Source: COIN chart on Tradingview.com

    Featured image from CNBC, chart from TradingView

    Disclaimer: The article is provided for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.

    Semilore Faleti

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  • Coinbase CEO Affirms Crypto as the Future of Money

    Coinbase CEO Affirms Crypto as the Future of Money

    In a recent blog post, Coinbase CEO and Co-founder Brian Armstrong expressed the belief that cryptocurrency is not just a passing trend but represents the future of money.

    Notably, Coinbase is on a mission to expand economic freedom for more than a billion people, emphasizing the transformative potential of the asset class in reshaping the financial landscape and empowering individuals globally.

    Coinbase to Focus on Building Trusted and Compliant Products

    The growing adoption of cryptocurrency is driven by consumers who expect their money to move with speed, reach, and autonomy that traditional financial institutions and online payment systems often cannot provide, according to Armstrong.

    Many individuals seek alternatives to the current financial system, with 52% of adults aged 18-40, six in 10 Black Americans, and nearly half (47%) of Hispanic Americans actively exploring alternatives in the U.S.

    As cryptocurrency usage expands, Armstrong states the company is focused on building trusted, compliant products and services, supporting developers, and advocating for fair regulations to make the benefits of crypto accessible globally. These services include Coinbase Wallet, Base, and an International Exchange.

    Armstrong also highlights Coinbase’s international expansion strategy, “Go Broad, Go Deep,” which focuses on accelerating worldwide crypto adoption. The company, he noted, recently obtained licenses or expanded its presence in key markets, including Canada, Spain, and Bermuda.

    Additionally, Ireland has been established as Coinbase’s EU MiCA entity location, further supporting its commitment to a global presence in the cryptocurrency space.

    Coinbase Reaffirms Commitment to Crypto Innovation

    Coinbase’s CEO also expressed the company’s commitment to building a runway with clear rules, partnerships, and trusted products and infrastructure to support current and future innovations in the cryptocurrency space.

    Armstrong emphasized that Coinbase’s decision to become a public company in the U.S. reflects its commitment to the market, compliance, and transparency. The exchange believes its mission is more relevant than ever, especially in the face of threats to the American Dream and democratic values, which can only thrive in an environment of economic freedom.

    Coinbase anticipates that the U.S. will eventually navigate and embrace the potential of crypto. In the meantime, the company will continue collaborating with countries that are progressing and embracing the next chapter of crypto, contributing to developing a more global, open financial system. Coinbase sees both crypto and itself as being in the early stages of their journeys.

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  • Modern Corporations Are Ungovernable, But DAOs Are Not The Answer

    Modern Corporations Are Ungovernable, But DAOs Are Not The Answer

    Roger L. Martin is one of the world’s foremost business strategists, serving as an advisor to the CEOs of some of the world’s largest companies including Procter & Gamble and Ford. In this interview we discuss the pitfalls with modern corporate governance and how things have become exacerbated by the rise of passive investing, proxy services and the pandemic-driven stock market boom.

    We also touch on the growing trend of major technology firms, such as Google, Facebook and even Coinbase, concentrating voting power in the hands of executives. Finally, we explore what all this means for the growth of DAOs and token prices during this period of crypto development. 

    Excerpted from our premium research service, Forbes CryptoAsset and Blockchain Advisor. Subscribe today to get first access to breaking news, trading signals, exclusive interviews, and much more.

    Forbes: What do you see today as some of the flaws in the modern incarnation of a corporation? And what are some of the key points of attention and trade off that you see between the various types of stakeholders?

    Roger Martin: I’m not sure that the modern widely held publicly traded company is governable. The problem is that there’s this notion of professional managers who run the company. And we have this notion that there’s a principal agent problem, where there is a challenge of having the management operate the company in a way that’s consistent with what the shareholders/owners want. There are two proposed solutions to the agency problem. One is to have stock-based compensation that’s supposed to align the interests of management and shareholders. There is a board of directors that works on the shareholders’ behalf to make sure that the directors or the senior management is operating in accordance with what the shareholders would want. So, here’s the question. If management are agents, and have self-control problems and interests that aren’t necessarily aligned with those of the shareholders, could you explain to me how another group of people who we call directors, who also aren’t the shareholders, would have the desire and motivation to serve those shareholders? 

    It’s an article of faith that the widely held publicly traded company is constructively governable. And of course there is this notion that stock-based compensation will align the interests of management and shareholders and I’ve written extensively about that, but it actually does the opposite. Everybody thinks the stock price is somehow a real thing that really reflects the company and its operations, and they’re often baffled when earnings are up 20% and the stock goes down. The reason is that the stock price is nothing real. It’s something entirely ethereal. It is simply the culmination of what all people in the capital markets observing the company imagined its future prospects to be. We know that because the S&P 500 has traded on average at 19x or 20x across its history, which means the stock prices incorporate 1x for current earnings and the other 19x times for future expectations. So we believe that stock-based compensation provides an incentive to make the company perform better. It isn’t. You don’t get higher stock prices by making the company perform better. You get a higher than today’s stock price by making the company perform better than people think it’s going to perform today. So the only thing that actually increases stock prices is a positive surprise. Hence, the question is, can management keep on delivering positive surprises to capital markets? Executives figured out that the game is to heighten the stock price, use aggressive accounting or whatever, to get expectations up, and then get out or cash out before the expectations fall back. And that’s why you get all this manipulation. In fact, the smartest thing you can possibly do as a CEO—and lots of CEOs do this—is as soon as you take over the position, you say, oh my god, now I understand what’s really going on here; the company is an incredible disaster. By saying so you are trying to get the stock price down. Then you do a bunch of things to get it back up to the level it was when you arrived. And you’ll be rich. So a publicly traded company is not governable. That’s a fundamental problem.

    Forbes: Have any of these issues been exacerbated by the frenzied capital markets during the pandemic? 

    Martin: The worst position for management of a company to be in is to have overvalued equity. If you’ve got equity that is trading for more than you, as the manager, knows it’s worth, you can be inclined to take desperate actions; make big, gigantic risky bets to try and do something to keep a collapse of the stock price from happening. That’s when most managerial sins are committed: when your equity is overvalued. The best place to be as a manager is if your equity is mildly undervalued, which gives you room to do things to get the stock price up. Because if there isn’t room and if in fact, there’s negative room, you just know the crash is coming. These ultra-high markets, which are spurred by the Fed keeping interest rates thus far at zero and pumping the economy absolutely chock full of cash, are making equity and debt go up. But there’s a correction coming. It’s just a matter of how, when and just how brutal it will be.

    Forbes: You’ve also written about how the rise in passive index investing has disconnected shareholders from the managers, which exacerbates the problem of corporate governance. Can you touch on that, and perhaps also discuss how proxy funds fit in here?  

    Martin: I think the proxy voting firms ISS, etc., are just ideologues. They have an ideology, which has nothing to do with anything that is demonstrated, proven or the like. I think they help lazy people be able to say, oh, ISS told me that I should vote this way so I’m okay. And ISS, from my experience, has no clue what is actually good for the performance of a company. It’s one of these things where the dominant players in the capital markets are not playing with their own money. It’s not even close. Pension fund managers, BlackRock, Fidelity, State Street, Vanguard are also playing with somebody else’s money. Hardly anybody’s playing with their own money. And it’s real people actually making those decisions. So you have to analyze their incentives. The main incentive for pension fund managers, for example, is to not be fired. It’s not to make the most money possible for shareholders. I will say that I have met pension fund managers who do take on pensioners’ interests as their responsibility, but that’s the exception, not the rule. So the idea that somehow they would be paragons of great management is just far fetched. 

    Forbes: Do you have any tell tale signs for distinguishing a good money manager from a bad one? Also, are there any ways for how this broken proxy system could be improved?

    Martin: I think the improvement is going to come from much more of a return to the corporate structure of the 1920s and 1930s, where public shareholders were simply along for the ride and these were semi-public companies. Because there was somebody who owned the majority stake and or at least a controlling stake and said, “hey, if you want to come along, go ahead. But I’m managing this. My net worth is tied up with this, and I’m going to make the decisions. And I don’t basically care what you think.” Now you’ll notice there’s a new kind of firm emerging in America that has taken that form, right? Tesla and Google, etc., where the leaders pretty explicitly say, “I do not care what you think, I am uninterested completely. And I’ll do what I want.” I think we’re going to have more of that. And I think that’s a better structure than the widely held publicly traded company.

    Forbes: That is an interesting point, because even looking at crypto with firms like Coinbase where Brian Armstrong controls a majority of the voting power, we are seeing some of the major firms follow this lead.

    Martin: As long as they’re honest and clear from the outset. That’s why I liked Google. When it went public, they were super clear. It was like, we’re in charge. You are free to come along for the ride. We’re fine with that, but do not be confused.

    Forbes: Let’s now turn our attention to DAOs, decentralized autonomous organizations. What are your thoughts?

    Martin: That sounds like a phenomenally dumb idea to me. I think it’s mainly massive hype. So there’s a tool that a bunch of very geeky people have come up with, they’re totally in love with, and they’re trying to find something useful to do with it. And they’re trying to create an ideology about it—oh, it’s all about decentralization. And they’ll find things to use the tool for. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) is a good example. It created an industry because now you can prove ownership of something. I don’t doubt that it’ll have applications. Do I see it as a way of changing human nature? Which is what this is saying; that people want a kind of completely decentralized, everybody votes thing. If they wanted that, Facebook and Google wouldn’t control the internet. Remember, we had the hype back then—oh, it’s going to be the most democratizing force on the face of the planet. Everybody can contribute and everybody can be on their own. Look what happened. Way, way more centralized nodes, centralized control of a sort we’ve never seen in the history of the planet. So if people are lustful and longing for all sorts of decentralized systems where everybody participates in every decision, humans have never worked that way. And I don’t think humans want to. And they are showing us that by having fealty to Facebook and Google.

    Forbes: Do you think it’s because humans don’t want that? Or they’re just lazy and they appreciate the convenience and don’t understand the tradeoffs that come with these platforms?

    Martin: All action is designed. People do what they want and what they want is to not participate in every decision and take personal agency for fixing everything. Then they will act accordingly. I think that almost everything about blockchain is fantastical; it’s hype but as usual, there’s something real inside the hype. So the internet as of 2000 was the hype, right? You didn’t need earnings; all you need is eyeballs and everything else to follow, and we’ll vendor finance it because that’s fine because it’s eyeballs and all the rules are suspended. It’s all different. Well, what happened? The whole thing blew up. Did the internet go away? No, it bred some very useful things that have changed the world for the better. I see the same with blockchain, which has no chance of reaching all the hype. And so, if you’re a sensible, not hype-oriented blockchain person, you can probably make a legitimate buck on it. That’s the best case scenario for blockchain as far as I’m concerned. 

    Forbes: Thank you.

    Steven Ehrlich, Forbes Staff

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