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Letters & Theses
Startup & FounderFounder letter

Coinbase's 2021 S-1 founder letter from Brian Armstrong

Written by
Brian Armstrong
Organisation
Coinbase
Published
25 Feb 2021
Sector
Crypto exchange and infrastructure

Read the original at sec.gov (opens in a new tab)

About this letter

Brian Armstrong, Coinbase's co-founder and chief executive, wrote this letter for the registration statement Coinbase Global filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 25 February 2021. Headed as a letter from the co-founder and CEO, it sits near the front of the prospectus, after a glossary of crypto terms and before the prospectus summary. Coinbase was preparing a direct listing of its Class A shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market rather than an initial public offering, so no investment bank was underwriting the sale of existing holders' shares.

The filing describes a company whose stated mission is to create an open financial system for the world. At the end of 2020 it counted 43 million verified users and about $90 billion of assets on its platform. It earned net income of $322 million that year after a loss of $30 million in 2019, with transaction fees making up over 96% of net revenue.

Why read it

Shows how the founder of a volatile, regulated business sets investor expectations on cyclical results, compliance and reinvestment ahead of a direct listing rather than an IPO.

What to notice

  1. 1

    Armstrong frames the mission as economic freedom and traces it to reading the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2010.

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Companies discussed

  • Coinbase (COIN)

Topics

  • regulation
  • long term thinking
  • risk
  • capital allocation
Read the original at sec.gov (opens in a new tab)

L3VLUP does not host this document. It belongs to Coinbase; the notes above are L3VLUP’s reading of it.

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