Coinbase Global Inc.¡¯s filing to become a publicly traded company provides a glimpse into the remarkably small circle of mostly men who command the incredibly lucrative digital landscape.
This U.S.-based power list starts with Brian Armstrong, the now billionaire chief executive officer of Coinbase, and his co-founder, Fred Ehrsam, who went on to create Paradigm Operations. Fellow billionaire Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz¡¯s Chris Dixon, are among the original venture capitalists that will reap large windfalls from the direct listing of the exchange.
Even though verified users of Coinbase, the largest U.S. digital-asset exchange, jumped 34% to 43 million last year as Bitcoin more than quadrupled, control of the largest cryptocurrency remains narrow. Less than 2% of the anonymous ownership accounts that can be tracked on Bitcoin¡¯s blockchain control 95% of the digital asset, according to researcher Flipside Crypto.
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