Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, revealed that the crypto exchange has generated nearly $2 billion in transaction fees revenue since its launch in 2012. Speaking at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit on Wednesday, Armstrong said that the exchange has generated more operating profits than the funds it raised from venture capitals. “We were profitable in 2018 and in 2017,” and as well as this year, he said. However, instead of paying out to the investors, the exchange is focusing on putting the profits into its expansion. “Most of these profits were plowing back into the business to create new products,” Armstrong said. “I sort of think of us as the anti-Unicorn unicorn...I want Coinbase to be a company of repeatable innovation.”
A unicorn in the industry
Founded in 2012, Coinbase is one of the eight Blockchain unicorns around the globe. With an array of crypto-based services for both retail and institutional traders, the exchange is valued at $8 billion. Responding to a question on the valuation of the company, Armstrong said: “I leave that up to investors...I just like to build products with technology.” The San Francisco-based exchange is aggressively adding digital coins to provide more options to crypto traders. In addition, to boost the crypto ecosystem, Coinbase is also investing heavily in startups working in the development of blockchain technology.
Facebook - a bad influence for Libra
Meanwhile, Coinbase is also a part of Facebook’s cryptocurrency initiative. When asked about the future of the project, he said: “I don’t really know why the reaction was so negative.” “I’d really like to see the U.S. embrace this area of innovation.” “My hope is the U.S. embraces this kind of innovation, even if it comes from a company like Facebook that they’re not necessarily very happy with,” the Coinbase CEO added.
