ALEX retweeted
watch how fast these labs launch their “unsafe” models when a competitor starts beating their benchmarks
ALEX retweeted
If you think of Coinbase like a bank, we now hold about $0.42T in assets for our customers, which would make us 21st largest bank in the US by total assets, and growing.
If you think of us more like a brokerage, we'd be the 8th largest brokerage today by AUM.
If you think of us like a payments company…TBH i'm not sure where we rank on that list. There are various ways to measure it, but there were about $30T in total stablecoin payments last year (not all of those were goods and services though).
The point is, with crypto the line between these categories is blurring. There are many legacy reasons these are separate in the traditional financial system - and not all of them are good reasons. Why does the money you spend lose value instead of growing in value like an investment? Why does your checking account not earn yield like a savings account (or better yet, like short term treasuries)? Many people use Coinbase to invest, but also to spend, get a loan, etc.
In the updated financial system, you will have a single primary financial account which serves all these functions. A greater % of global GDP will run on more efficient crypto rails over time. We'll have sound money, lower friction transactions, and greater economic freedom for all.
ALEX retweeted
Indian gov't is buying a subscription to 13,000 academic journals, and then making them all available to "18 million students, faculty, and researchers" for free.
The cost is $715 million over 3 years. It includes Elsevier, Nature, and AAAS.
Have any other countries done this?
ALEX retweeted
How to get rich.
1. Find a massive growth engine like MSFT, Google, AMZN or Bitcoin.
2. Hold for 10-20 years.
That's it.
The hard problem is actually holding.
ALEX retweeted
Brian Armstrong explains how he built Coinbase on nights and weekends while working at Airbnb
Brian first advises those who are currently employed to not build your project on company hours or on your company laptop:
“If you build it on company time or on the company hardware, the company probably owns the IP.”
Then he describes his schedule for working on Coinbase while still working full-time at Airbnb.
“I would often work [at Airbnb] until 7pm. I’d come home, eat dinner, and then I would work from 8pm to midnight. I would do that maybe 3-4 days a week on weekdays. And then on the weekend I’d work Sunday afternoon for 7-8 hours.”
Brian did this consistently for about a year and a half until Coinbase was far enough along for him to get seed funding from Y Combinator.
“It sucked. I mean I was tired after the full day of work [at Airbnb]. But this is where determination comes in… At that moment in time, I was in my late 20s, and I was like, ‘I really want to try to build something important in the world.’”
When asked how he maintained friendships during this time, Brian replies:
“I was pretty intense about it. I would say I sacrificed friendships for it. It’s not like I was just never responding to people, but I’ve seen this happen to various people. They get to a certain point in their life. Sometimes they turn a certain age where they thought they would have more done by then or maybe someone in their family passes away and they’re like, Oh my god, time is finite. It’s precious. And something happens where they’re like, ‘I’m going to get this done, no matter the cost.’”
Brian tells those out there who might be in a similar situation:
“Go hard at it. Finish your book. Launch your thing. Just start doing stuff - and even if you don’t know what to do, just do anything, because action will produce information and it’ll help you get to the right thing.”
Video source: @StevenBartlett (2022)
ALEX retweeted
coinbase => phantom (browser plugin) => jupiter
medium.com/@eggnamedcregg/ho…