Brian Armstrong, 38-year-old billionaire thanks to bitcoin
(Source: https://brasil.elpais.com/internacional/2021-03-06/armstrong-bilionario-gracas-ao-bitcoin.html)
Co-founder of Coinbase, a cryptocurrency purse, intends to put the company on the Stock Exchange at the height of its business. However, the message that he discouraged employees from getting involved in social causes during anti-racist protests in the US drew criticism on networks and Silicon Valley.
Brian Armstrong, co-founder, and CEO of Coinbase, a digital wallet for storing bitcoins, is not only the latest newcomer to the billionaires club: he is also the emerging technology star. Armstrong (38 years old) has a Marck Zuckerberg air: this beardless, visionary image of young prodigies with a mission beyond business and into the revolution of manners. But, as Facebook's chief executive, he is also willing to radically transform an inveterate habit, in his case, the use of money, giving it an as yet unfathomable dimension.
Coinbase, most cryptocurrencies trading platform based in San Francisco, Kotara Stock Exchange, and Armstrong, is one of the biggest beneficiaries: the value of their participation is estimated between 7 and 15 billion dollars (between 40 and 85 billion of reais), according to the level of sales of the virtual currency, in an upward sequence.
A meteoric career for the company, created in 2012, and for its co-founder, graduated in Economics from the exclusive Rice University, which is leading a revolution in a sector that of cryptocurrencies still viewed with fear by many, but which is gaining adhesion each time more people, from US congressmen to large corporations like Tesla.
No data about your life
Armstrong developed decisive leadership in record time. Yet, little is known of his life, except his previous passage through Airbnb, not even his birthplace and opinions about the world around him. Because outside of bitcoin and, above all, your company, nothing seems to catch your attention. Therefore, it is not surprising that one of his speeches to employees, telling them to focus on their work – that is, on the company's goals – and putting aside any social unrest caused a furor on the networks. Where will you develop your apostolate if not in them?
In September, in an exceptionally politically intense year-long recess – when demonstrations against racial injustice were still recent and on the eve of decisive presidential elections – Armstrong published a post that was both a messianic manifesto and a direction. To its 1,420 employees.
The order was irrevocable: no support for political and social causes; whoever agrees can abandon the boat. Nevertheless, 60 workers accepted the incentive, a payment equivalent to four to six months' wages, according to the length of service, and signed the termination. "Life is too short to work at a company you're not comfortable with," he wrote personally via email.
In the publication that caused the uproar and in the message that he later directed to the squad, Armstrong mentioned the activist effervescence in the big companies of Silicon Valley, transformed almost into progressive references against sexual abuse ( Google), racial discrimination ( Facebook ), and other causes robust.
against social participation
So, unlike other companies that encourage and even invite their employees to participate actively – for example, great New York business leaders who encouraged 100,000 employees to vote in the upcoming mayoral election – Armstrong condemned all social unrest when considering any interest outside the business hinders the efforts to triumph. "Even though these efforts [supporting social causes] are well-intentioned," he wrote to be on the safe side, "they have the potential to destroy value in most companies, being a distraction and having a divisive character."
Armstrong's social resentment appears to have its origins in an embarrassing incident that occurred in June during a company convention, when Coinbase's chief executive reportedly refused to speak out in favor of the Black Lives Matter movement, according to officials cited, anonymously, by The Business of Business portal (other sources, however, point out their explicit support on Twitter for the mobilizations).
In October, according to the portal, tennis player and investor Serena Williams deleted all mention of Coinbase from her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures.
That is, while for some Armstrong adds his nose to finance with a management model designed to set precedents, for Silicon Valley – an example of greater liberality, at least ideological – he is a moralistic leader, in addition to being clumsy and short-sighted in his efforts. Of not listening to the innumerable demands in progress. But that Armstrong will make a school, both in management and in doctrine. That some of your employees want to go back to the catacombs doesn't either.