Coinbase Buys Bitcoin Startup Earn.com, Hires CEO as Chief Technology Officer – Coinbase购买比特币的启动earn.com雇用的首席执行官,首席技术官

Coinbase Buys Bitcoin Startup Earn.com, Hires CEO as Chief Technology Officer - Coinbase购买比特币的启动earn.com雇用的首席执行官,首席技术官

Stuart Isett—Fortune Brainstorm Tech

斯图尔特伊西特财富头脑风暴技术

By

Robert Hackett

April 16, 2018

Robert Hackett 2018年4月16日

Coinbase has acquired Earn.com, a social network that lets people earn and spend Bitcoin, and has hired the startup’s CEO, Balaji Srinivasan, as its first-ever chief technology officer.

Coinbase and Earn.com, formerly known as 21.co until rebranding late last year, did not disclose the terms of the deal. The price tag was rumored, however, to be in the ballpark of $100 million—around the same amount 21.co raised during its last private funding round in 2015—according to recent reports by Coindesk, a cryptocurrency blog, and Axios, a media startup.

“Everyone is aligning behind Coinbase as the winner of blockchain in the U.S.,” Srinivasan told Fortune. He pointed to a string of Coinbase’s top-level hires as evidence of the trend: Asiff Hirji, formerly of Hewlett Packard and TD Ameritrade, as chief operations officer; LinkedIn’s Emilie Choi as vice president of corporate and business development; Twitter’s Tina Bhatnagar as vice president of operations and technology; and Facebook’s Rachael Horwitz as vice president of communications, to name a few.

“As you’ve seen and continue to see, it has become a magnetic node,” Srinivasan said of his new employer. “A lot of talented people are coming here.”

Srinivasan’s number one priority in his new role as tech chief will be to add more stars to Coinbase’s ranks by recruiting top engineers, he said. His other priorities will include evangelizing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology as well as helping to set an internal tech strategy, which includes integrating and expanding Earn.com beyond its present incarnation as a paid email service.

“Balaji has become one of the most respected technologists in the crypto field and is considered one of the technology industry’s few true ‘originalists,’” said Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s cofounder and CEO, in a blog post announcing the news. He said that Coinbase would continue to run Earn, which he described as “arguably one of the earliest practical blockchain applications to achieve meaningful traction.”

Coinbase and Earn.com are both backed by Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm where Srinivasan continues to serve as a board partner. Srinivasan stepped down from his role as general partner at the VC firm in 2015, when he left to work full-time on his startup, then known as 21.co and focused on Bitcoin mining.

In a few short years, 21.co raised more money than just about any other Bitcoin startup at the time. The company eventually pivoted away from hardware, changed its name to Earn, and built a social network around cryptocurrency.

Srinivasan’s relationship to Coinbase dates back to its earliest years. He first met Coinbase’s founders in early 2013 at their live-work loft on Bluxome Street in San Francisco, shortly before founding 21.co. They hit it off, and Srinivasan became, along with his brother and erstwhile business partner Ramji, one of Coinbase’s earliest backers.

Srinivasan said the Coinbase team and its office at the time reminded him of Counsyl, a gene testing startup he founded with Ramji out of a Stanford University dorm room in 2008. “I loved it. That’s exactly how we booted up Counsyl in the early days,” Srinivasan said.

Srinivasan, who teaches courses through Stanford, has since become one the world’s foremost experts on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Last year he spoke at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colo., where he proposed a Matrix-like virtual reality in which people would need to transact in an international, virtual currency, like Bitcoin.

Srinivasan remains one the industry’s biggest believers and advocates, despite the downturn of cryptocurrency prices from their winter highs. “Facebook for almost 10 years was called a fad and a bubble,” Srinivasan said.

“Then it became this gigantic thing. Blockchain is like that,” he said.

 

Coinbase获得了earn.com,社交网络让人们的收入和支出的比特币,并已聘请startup’s首席执行官,Balaji Srinivasan,作为有史以来第一次的首席技术官。Coinbase和earn.com,原名21.co直到去年年底更名,没有透露该交易的条款。价格标签是谣传,但将在1亿美元左右,相同数量的21.co提出最后的私人资金在2015轮根据CoinDesk最近在看球期间,一个cryptocurrency博客,和Axios,媒体启动。“everyone对准Coinbase身后的blockchain在美国获胜,” Srinivasan告诉财富。他指着一串coinbase’s顶层雇用作为趋势的证据:Asiff Hirji,原名休利特帕卡德和TD Ameritrade首席营运官;linkedin’s艾米莉财为企业和业务发展副总裁蒂娜;twitter’s Bhatnagar作为运营和技术副总裁;和facebook’s Rachael霍维茨作为通信副总裁,对名字几。你已经看到了,继续看“as,它已成为一个磁节点,” Srinivasan说他的新雇主。“a很多有才华的人在他作为技术总监的新角色来here.” srinivasan’s的首要任务将是通过招募顶级工程师coinbase’s行列添加更多的星星,他说。他的其他的重点将包括传福音的cryptocurrency blockchain技术,以及帮助建立一个内部的技术战略,包括整合和拓展earn.com超越其目前的化身为付费电子邮件服务。“balaji已经成为一个最受人尊敬的专家在加密领域,被认为是科技行业的一些真实的‘originalists,’” Brian Armstrong说,coinbase’s联合创始人和首席执行官,在一篇博客文章中宣布了这一消息。他说,Coinbase会继续运行,赚了,他所说“arguably最实用的blockchain应用实现有意义的traction.” Coinbase和earn.com都支持Andreessen Horowitz,硅谷的风投公司在公司继续担任董事会合伙人。Srinivasan走出他的角色作为普通合伙人在VC 2015下,当他离开他的公司全职工作,当时被称为21.co和集中在比特币采矿。在短短的几年里,21.co提出比任何其他比特币启动的时间赚更多的钱。该公司最终转远离硬件,更名为赚,建立社交网络和各地cryptocurrency。srinivasan’s与Coinbase之间的关系可以追溯到最早的年。他第一次见到coinbase’s创始人在2013年初在其生活工作的阁楼上,bluxome街在三藩,前不久成立21.co。他们一拍即合,成为和Srinivasan,连同他的弟弟和以前的商业伙伴Ramji,一个coinbase’s最早的支持者。Srinivasan当时表示,Coinbase团队和办公室提醒他Counsyl,基因测试启动他创立了Ramji从斯坦福大学的宿舍2008。“i爱它。that’s到底如何,我们启动了Counsyl在早期,” Srinivasan说。Srinivasan,谁教的课程通过斯坦福,已经成为一个重要的world’s cryptocurrency blockchain技术专家和。去年他曾在fortune’s科技头脑风暴大会在Aspen,Colo.,在那里他提出了一个矩阵式的虚拟现实中,人们需要在一个国际虚拟货币交易,如比特币。公司是最大的industry’s信徒和拥护者,尽管他们的冬季高点cryptocurrency价格低迷。近10年“facebook被称为狂热和泡沫,” Srinivasan说。“then成为这个巨大的东西。” blockchain是那样的,他说。 

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Coinbase Buys Bitcoin Startup Earn.com, Hires CEO as Chief Technology Officer - Coinbase购买比特币的启动earn.com雇用的首席执行官,首席技术官

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