Voorhees’ 2023:
Voorhees spared no time in being active in the space in the new year. Within the first two weeks of January, he publicly made predictions on the price of Bitcoin, which he forecasted would reach $40,000 by June. He said that the macro environment of the industry, interest rates and the tightening of monetary conditions are all major components affecting how the crypto market will play out for the remainder of the year. Nonetheless, he reiterated that a bear market doesn’t worry him, as the world is “in the middle of a revolution right now.”
Additionally, the ShapeShift DAO started the year by releasing Phase 1 of its 2023 development roadmap. The DAO said its overall objective for the phase is to become a one-stop spot for DeFi users to view their portfolio and DeFi positions while having the opportunity to earn yield and swap. Another significant focus is on integrating Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible chains and Cosmos zones into its app in an effort to attract new users. According to the announcement, Phase 2 will be revealed in March.
Voorhees’ 2022:
The Web3 space — and the crypto industry, in particular — found itself under the microscope last year. However, in July, Voorhees commented that the bear market was the “least worrisome” compared with bear markets of the past because it was highly influenced by outside factors. “Prior crashes were all bubble blow offs, unrelated to the larger world,” he tweeted.
On that note, ShapeShift also had an active year. In March, the company held an NFT auction supporting female artists involved in the nonfungible token and blockchain industries. The ShapeShift DAO, which formed officially in July 2022, commented that the auction would also go toward supporting the DAO as it continues to grow. In addition to the development of the DAO, ShapeShift made moves to bring itself closer to complete decentralization with its new open-source mobile app. According to the organization, it was made in part to enhance user mobility. At around this time, Voorhees tweeted, “Self-custody. Decentralization. Immutability. Each requires the former. This is the way.”
Before the fall of the FTX exchange and all the chaos that ensued afterward, Voorhees appeared on a podcast alongside Sam Bankman-Fried to discuss how regulations should be implemented in the crypto space. After the fallout, Voorhees continued to voice his opinion on the situation, with comments ranging from how proofs of reserves work in DeFi to the state of centralized exchanges. Voorhees is very active on Twitter, where he frequently shares his views on the state of the industry with his over 600,000 followers.
Biography:
Erik Voorhees is the founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift, an instant Bitcoin and altcoin exchange that he developed and managed under a penname until revealing his identity in 2015 via a seed fundraising announcement. However, his origins in the crypto space can be traced back to 2012 when he joined BitInstant LLC, where he eventually served as the head of marketing and communications. Voorhees co-founded the Bitcoin company Coinapult and founded SatoshiDICE. In June 2016, he became a member of the Cryptocurrency Advisory Board at MGT Capital Investments.
Originally from Colorado, Voorhees moved to Washington, where he studied business leadership and political economics at the University of Puget Sound. However, he has since lived in Dubai, New York, New Hampshire and Panama, and he now resides in the crypto-friendly town of Zug, Switzerland. He has been an outspoken libertarian and advocate for Bitcoin, talking openly about his concerns surrounding traditional monetary systems and taxation. He has been known to work with regulators on better understanding the decentralized financial system and improving the future of both TradFi and DeFi. ShapeShift is said to reflect his political and economic beliefs in that it is a free service.
Armstrong’s 2023:
Despite 2022’s setbacks, Armstrong seems relatively optimistic about the cryptocurrency industry. In late December, he stated that the crypto industry “basically has a black eye” owing to the number of scammers and fraudsters over the years. He still thinks that the FTX crisis isn’t representative of the entire industry and that crypto isn’t going anywhere.
Armstrong has also been tweeting about crypto regulation and Coinbase’s plans regarding Web3. Coinbase will seemingly increase transparency through 2023 and explore new ways to offer cryptographic financials, with Coinbase laying out a “long-term crypto strategy and investment in Web3.” The focus on Web3 seems to be concentrated on building solutions such as self-custody wallets, nonfungible tokens, developer tools and other technological advancements.
Coinbase’s stock lost a considerable amount of value when news broke out of the FTX crash in 2022. However, Coinbase climbed 11.61% following JPMorgan’s neutral rating of the stock, highlighting it as a possible “beneficiary of the challenges that have faced other brokers/exchanges in the aftermath of the collapse and bankruptcy of FTX.”
Armstrong’s 2022:
It was a rough year for Coinbase, which laid off 18% of its staff amid the economic downturn. Armstrong issued a message to his employees in June when companywide staff reductions were announced. Armstrong didn’t seem too optimistic about Coinbase’s revenue come December, especially following rival exchange FTX’s controversial crash. In an interview with Bloomberg, Armstrong articulated how he believed Coinbase’s revenue would fall by 50% or more before the end of 2022.
Armstrong also expressed his thoughts on the FTX debacle, stating that it’s likely to have been a case of massive fraud rather than a simple series of mismanaging accounts, as former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried claimed. “It appears that they took customer funds from their exchange and commingled them or moved them into their hedge fund- and then ended up in a very underwater position,” Armstrong told Bloomberg.
But Armstrong and his company attempted to ride the waves of the crisis, with Armstrong publishing his thoughts on regulatory clarity in cryptocurrency, underscoring the need for “regulatory clarity for centralized actors, and a level playing field across exchanges, while preserving the decentralized crypto innovations.” The company also seemed to double down on increasing public trust and highlighting transparency with the release of “Coin: A Founder’s Story” in December and a detailed look-back on Coinbase’s global 2022 operations on the Coinbase blog.
Late in the year, in a move that was lauded by the cryptocurrency community, Armstrong backed privacy-preserving protocol Tornado Cash in a lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury after the agency sanctioned the decentralized software following accusations of being used by North Korea to launder funds. Armstrong clarified that while he supported the Treasury “sanctioning bad actors” in the community, its actions threatened the community’s access to financial privacy.
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.
Lubin’s 2023:
Lubin’s 2023 is expected to be filled with activity pushing crypto industry adoption via his leadership of ConsenSys. The start of the year saw ConsenSys make multiple headlines. In January, the company publicized its move to cut its staff by 11%. Lubin cited the company’s intent to tighten up and focus attention on its core values, noting a struggling market as the rationale. Lubin also told Cointelegraph early in the year that he expected a bright future for Ethereum, pointing toward the blockchain’s asset, Ether, and its ability to maintain price strength amid the crypto bear market.
Lubin’s 2022:
In the latter half of 2022, the Ethereum blockchain underwent its long-awaited Merge, which resulted in a move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, which resulted in the blockchain requiring less energy to run. With climate concerns in mind and in an effort to make up for Ethereum’s years of higher energy usage, Lubin and ConsenSys banded together with multiple entities to form the Ethereum Climate Platform, which made headlines in November. The coalition aims to fund projects looking to offset Ethereum’s previous energy usage, with other founders including Polygon, Microsoft and more.
In October, ConsenSys formed a decentralized autonomous organization called the MetaMask Grants DAO, with the goal of expanding the Web3 and MetaMask ecosystem. ConsenSys invested $2.4 million in the effort over a 12-month trial period. Late in the year, ConsenSys updated its privacy policy to inform people that certain information from MetaMask users, including IP addresses, was being collected as part of MetaMask’s processes. Following concerns from industry participants, ConsenSys later clarified the specifics of the policy, in part noting that actions such as simply logging into a MetaMask wallet would not trigger data collection.
Lubin’s 2022:
In the latter half of 2022, the Ethereum blockchain underwent its long-awaited Merge, which resulted in a move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, which resulted in the blockchain requiring less energy to run. With climate concerns in mind and in an effort to make up for Ethereum’s years of higher energy usage, Lubin and ConsenSys banded together with multiple entities to form the Ethereum Climate Platform, which made headlines in November. The coalition aims to fund projects looking to offset Ethereum’s previous energy usage, with other founders including Polygon, Microsoft and more.
In October, ConsenSys formed a decentralized autonomous organization called the MetaMask Grants DAO, with the goal of expanding the Web3 and MetaMask ecosystem. ConsenSys invested $2.4 million in the effort over a 12-month trial period. Late in the year, ConsenSys updated its privacy policy to inform people that certain information from MetaMask users, including IP addresses, was being collected as part of MetaMask’s processes. Following concerns from industry participants, ConsenSys later clarified the specifics of the policy, in part noting that actions such as simply logging into a MetaMask wallet would not trigger data collection.
Biography:
Joseph Lubin is the founder and CEO of crypto entity ConsenSys. Back in the 1980s, Lubin attended Princeton University, earning his bachelor’s degree in engineering. He then worked as a manager at the university in the robotics and expert systems lab. His subsequent endeavors include working as a software engineer and research scientist for Vision Applications and Tomandandy, serving as vice president of technology in the private wealth management branch of Goldman Sachs, and working as the CEO of SyNerG Music.
Lubin is a well-known name in the cryptocurrency industry, having been in the sector for a considerable time. He helped co-found the Ethereum blockchain and also founded ConsenSys in 2014, leading the entity as its CEO since then. ConsenSys is a leader in the development of the Ethereum ecosystem and is known for its innovative solutions, like the MetaMask wallet, and contributions to the blockchain space. In a 2021 interview with Cointelegraph — a year that saw nonfungible tokens boom — Lubin spoke highly of the NFTs, expecting them to grow from their applications in industries such as the art world to represent businesses eventually.