Fred Ehrsam is the co-founder of Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, and co-founder of Paradigm, one of the largest crypto-focused venture capital firms.
Coinbase
Ehrsam co-founded Coinbase with Brian Armstrong in 2012. Before Coinbase, he worked as a trader in the Securities Division at Goldman Sachs and in Portfolio Analytics at BlackRock. He left Coinbase in 2017 but remains on its board of directors. Coinbase went public on the Nasdaq in April 2021.
Paradigm
In 2018, Ehrsam co-founded Paradigm with Matt Huang (formerly of Sequoia Capital). Paradigm has become one of the most influential crypto venture firms, raising multiple funds totaling billions of dollars. The firm invests across the crypto ecosystem — from Layer 1 protocols and DeFi to infrastructure and crypto-native companies. Notable Paradigm investments include Uniswap, Optimism, Cosmos, and many others.
Influence
Ehrsam is known for his thoughtful long-form writing on crypto topics. His essays on token governance, the future of decentralized organizations, and crypto market structure have been widely cited in the industry.
Education
Ehrsam holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Duke University.
Related people
Coinbase
