Biography: Brian Armstrong is the co-founder and CEO of the global cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and is considered one of the pioneers of the United States cryptocurrency scene. He has led Coinbase to rapid growth, with the company seeing over $200 million in funding from big-shot investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, New York Stock Exchange and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Coinbase has served over 10 million customers globally. Fortune’s 2017 40 Under 40 list included Armstrong, as did Time magazine’s 100 Next list in 2019. He holds bachelor’s degrees in computer science and economics and a master’s in computer science from Rice University. He started as a developer for IBM, then moved on to Deloitte to become a consultant. In 2011, he had a stint as a software engineer focusing on fraud prevention at Airbnb.