Page 72 - Forbes - USA (February 2018)

F I N T E C H
CR YPT O BILLIONAIRES

vorced, he parties in a posh for Advent International in the
Los Angeles house he rents for United Kingdom.
$150,000 month. “It’s $1 billion A true believer, he went on
virtually for free. I actually have in 2013 to become a limited
earned it because I was the only partner in San Francisco-based
person who was willing to raise Blockchain Capital’s fi rst fund.
his hand,” says Mellon. “My fam- Tally Capital, which consists of
ily thought I was insane, when I his own capital, has invested in
knew it was a home run.” 20 startups, including some of
the most successful exchanges in
the space, like Coinbase, Kraken
and BTCC.

Think of him as the Kath-
erine Graham of crypto, spon-
Brian soring over 40 dinners for the
Armstrong blockchain community, spend-
ing “hundreds of thousands of
dollars on steak and wine for
CEO, COINBASE, 35
INFRASTRUCTURE people in the space to talk about

this stuff.” Says Roszak: “Th e
Crypto Net Worth: biggest piece wasn’t that I was
$900 million–$1 billion early and made early gains. It
was the community that I built.”
If this is a gold rush, Arm-
strong is the guy making the He’s always looking for new
big money selling the pans. He converts: Roszak says he gave
founded Coinbase, the nerve Richard Branson and Bill Clin-
center and most popular entry ton their fi rst Bitcoins.
point for cryptocurrency trad-
ing in the U.S., in 2012. Th ere
are two main parts to the busi-
ness: a brokerage side, where
retail customers can buy Bit- MATTHEW ROSZAK
coin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether and Anthony
Litecoin using a bank account, Di Iorio
and an exchange, where big
its investors that it was on track
traders can make bids and off ers
to generating $600 million in COFOUNDER, ETHEREUM;
on cryptocurrencies. FOUNDER OF JAXX AND
annual revenue at its current

The company has gone DECENTRAL, 43
pace. As Bitcoin mania contin- IDEALIST OPPORTUNIST
through some growing pains.
ued, Coinbase became the most

There have been outages and a Crypto Net Worth:
downloaded iPhone app in the Matthew
legal battle that it lost with the $750 million–$1 billion
U.S., and its monthly unique
Internal Revenue Service, which Roszak
users grew to 4.3 million, ac- “I got the concept of Bitcoin
successfully demanded customer
cording to Verto Analytics. right away,” says Anthony Di
records so the government could COFOUNDER, BLOQ;
Coinbase generated $1 billion FOUNDER,TALLY CAPITAL, 45 Iorio, one of Ethereum’s co-

figure out the capital gains owed
of revenue in 2017. IDEALIST BUILDER founders. Di Iorio, who went to
by Coinbase’s customers. But
What’s even more remark- Ryerson University in Toronto to MATTHEW ROSZAK WEARS A WOOL SUIT BY DIOR HOMME ($3,800), COTTON SHIRT BY PRADA ($510), AND THE OTTANTASEI TOURBILLON BY BOVET ($173,300).
through it all Coinbase’s custom- Crypto Net Worth:
able are its pretax margins, study marketing, spent the 2000s
er base has continued to surge $900 million–$1 billion
which exceed 70%, according to managing his family’s patio-
and the company has contin-
industry insiders, compared to Roszak participated in the fi rst door business as well as running
ued to charge fees that are high,
40% for Schwab. According to initial coin off erings beginning a geothermal drilling fi rm. Aft er
at least by traditional brokerage
one person privy to the transac- in 2013, before the term even ex- watching the financial crisis dec-

standards.
tion, shares of Coinbase recent- isted, buying such currencies as imate the real estate industry,
In August, Coinbase raised
ly traded on the secondary mar- Mastercoin, Factom and Maid- Di Iorio found himself studying
$100 million at a valuation of
ket for a valuation of about $4.5 safe. “I’ve been very fortunate economics, trying to understand
$1.6 billion from six fi rms, in-
billion. It’s not hard to make and was very early,” says Matt what had happened. “I was look-
cluding the prestigious Grey-
the case the company is worth Roszak, who, prior to crypto, ing at alternative ways of think-
lock Partners. Th e company
much more. worked as a tech entrepreneur, ing about economics, and I real-
offered a share buyback, and

Armstrong declined to com- cofounding soft ware companies; ly started understanding learning
almost no employees took it—a
ment, and a spokesman for Coin- as a venture capitalist at fi rms about what money really is—that PHOTOGRAPHED BY JAMEL TOPPIN
nearly unprecedented situation
base said Forbes’ fi gures, which like SilkRoad Equity (where he whole libertarian thinking about
in Silicon Valley. Smart move:
are based on Armstrong’s stake in settled SEC charges of insid- sound money.”
A month later, Coinbase told
the company, are incorrect. er trading); and in private equity In 2012, in search of fellow
70 | FORBES FEBRUARY 28, 2018