Blockchain and Cryptocurrency: People, Culture and Tech
In a Jan. 19 statement on its blog, Coinbase portrayed the move part of a grand design, calling it “an important step in delivering on our mission to create an open financial system for the world.” It’s also part of a business strategy to turn the infrastructure Coinbase built for itself into a suite of products available to any developer.
The cryptocurrency exchange's CEO, Brian Armstrong, took another hammer-blow from the New York Times’ Nathaniel Popper on Dec. 29, with an article alleging the firm not only paid black and female employees less than their male counterparts, it did so at levels far worse than is typical in Silicon Valley.
With Bitcoin romping to new all-time highs of $23,770 without stopping for breath—and the surge winning coverage in national news outlets that wouldn’t normally touch crypto with a 10-foot pole—curious investors are now examining digital assets for the first time.
The terse IPO announcement came a day after the appointment of two new board members, including Cisco executive vice president and CFO Kelly Kramer, who will head up the Coinbase board’s Audit and Compliance Committee.
