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On Thursday (3 January 2019), Bitcoin's 10th birthday, Brian Armstrong, the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, took to Twitter to explain how he got into Bitcoin (BTC), how Coinbase was born, and why he still believes in its enormous potential.
Armstrong is not too popular with some members of the crypto community due to his support for Roger Ver and Bitcoin Cash (BCH); these people see Armstrong as an enemy rather than a friend of Bitcoin.
So, perhaps, it makes sense that Armstrong decided to use this occasion to address the community and explain that despite what some people think, although he does not talk about Bitcoin that often, he still has much love and respect for it.
Armstrong started his tweetstorm with this tweet:
1/ Today is a big day for Bitcoin, as it marks 10 years since the Genesis Block. Some people think I don’t like to talk about Bitcoin (😀), but today I have a few words to say
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
He then started to explain how he got into Bitcoin and why he found it so exciting:
2/ I read the Satoshi Nakamoto white paper for the first time in 2010, after seeing the link on Hacker News while I was home for Christmas https://t.co/4pE007fv4p I couldn’t stop thinking about it for the next 6 months and re-read it a number of times.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
3/ I got excited by the prospect of another global decentralized protocol (like the internet) that could create a more open financial system for the world. I had a hope that it could create more economic freedom https://t.co/DuTOX11jif
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
4/ Most of my friends thought Bitcoin sounded pretty crazy, but something in my gut told me it was important. I wanted to do something to help make this technology easier to use and see if it could get wider adoption.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
5/ So I started tinkering on nights and weekends on various projects. The first part was a simple Bitcoin wallet for android https://t.co/ppKDoYnpSM
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
6/ It helped me start learning about Bitcoin, but it was still too difficult to use (and buggy!). So I started working on a hosted wallet that I thought could reach more people, including writing a custom Bitcoin node in Ruby (my C++ wasn't good enough).
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
Next, he talked about how he got the initial funding for his Bitcoin wallet project and how he came up with the name "Coinbase":
7/ This took ~3 months but helped me understand the protocol one level deeper. I applied to YCombinator with my idea and prototype, and their initial investment helped convince me start working on it full time!
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 20198/ The project was initially called BitBank (I liked how it alliterated - like Paypal, or CocaCola) but the lawyers told me not to use the word 'Bank' in the name. So I started brainstorming new names.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
9/ I happened to see the word 'coinbase' in the Bitcoin Wiki https://t.co/UlxV5UYRbh (it is a part of the Bitcoin protocol) and liked it. I purchased the domain https://t.co/MdoYuOx9xv a few days later for ~$1,800. Millions of customers later here we are.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
Armstrong then moved to expressing his admiration and love for Bitcoin:
10/ Bitcoin is one of the most important inventions of all time and has launched a global movement. It's awesome to see an entire ecosystem spring up around it, but Bitcoin is my first love.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
11/ Bitcoin remains the most popular asset on Coinbase among new customers and longtime hodlers alike. It's great to see steady progress continue, including lightning network adoption and more.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
12/ To the extent I was critical of people working on any part of Bitcoin or crypto in the past, I apologize. My hope is that we see this technology succeed in the world, and my hat is off to anyone working to make that happen.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
13/ I believe we’re still at the beginning. The white paper signaled the start of a movement and the full promise of Bitcoin is still yet to be realized.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
And finally, the Coinbase CEO concluded his tweetstorm with this congratulatory message for Bitcoin:
14/ Every day, I see more talented people coming in to the space, and I’ve never had more conviction about crypto and what it holds for the future. Happy 10th anniversary Bitcoin!
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019
Generally, Armstrong's tweetstorm has been quite well-received by the crypto community, with over 2,300 likes so far for the originating tweet.
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