Ernest Buhangin

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

"If you're in crypto, pivot to AI."

I used to hear versions of this, and it's the wrong way to think about the world. It's zero sum, scarcity thinking.

Crypto is a general purpose technology. It's infrastructure, the same way electricity or the internet is infrastructure. It doesn't compete with the next big thing, because it underpins it. It's an *and*, not an *or*.

AI being a megatrend takes nothing away from crypto. If anything, it makes crypto more important.

AI agents will need their own financial infrastructure and will eventually transact far more per day than all humans combined. They can't open a bank account, they can't wait three days for a wire, they reside in one country. They need real time programmable money (and that's crypto).

Agents will need to hold funds and pay for things on their own. We pioneered this with the x402 protocol, Base, and USDC, which now power the vast majority of all agentic payments. Agents will also engage in trading and act as a financial advisor. They will raise or borrow money for new projects they are undertaking. They will eliminate tasks for us around tax planning, portfolio rebalancing, and bill pay.

Welcome to the world of Agentic Finance (AiFi). This is what Coinbase is building.

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

@HedgeyeTech is 100 your bet? Minimax?

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

@01vprivate is the story of acen legit or just being pushed randomly

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇫🇷 Four years ago, Maja Chwalińska was battling depression so severe she could barely get out of bed.

Last week, the 24-year-old arrived in Paris ranked No. 114 in the world, with no sponsors, no guaranteed income, and uncertainty over how she would even pay for her hotel room.

She fought through three qualifying matches just to enter the French Open, then stunned the tennis world with nine straight victories to reach the final.

Now she is guaranteed at least $1.6 million, with $3.25 million awaiting if she wins the title.

A week ago she was worrying about a hotel bill. Today, she is living proof that fairy tales sometimes do come true.

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

@bncdotph wew

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

https://t.co/5SIXsnrzxD

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

@1769_alex is there any news why it went up today

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

Working on something ambitious is like climbing a mountain that’s covered in fog.

You can't see a clear path to the top. You have to take a few steps into the unknown to be able to see the next few steps in front of you. Inevitably, sometimes you’ll end up a local maximum and have to backtrack. That’s fine, just keep moving.

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

https://t.co/eOqsAbMjbp

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

https://t.co/PzWubFkD0I

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

Some of our best hires were totally unqualified on paper.

They always had the same qualities: entrepreneurial, high agency, smart, mission aligned, and they got shit done.

If you’re hiring, especially in early stages, seek out & bet on these people. Don’t over-index on resumes.

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

https://t.co/uBc2YWc0me

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

https://t.co/Wm0qhk8xVG

[David Senra @davidsenra]

"Peter Thiel says, you have to be contrarian but right to be an entrepreneur.

So, you have to be comfortable looking stupid for a long time.

When I was calling those banks and saying, "Hey, we're a crypto company. We want to do this," they would hang up on me.

Or I'd go pitch the 30th venture investor and get a no.

Or the thousandth employee we tried to hire or whatever.

We're willing to be misunderstood for a long time.

And then you slowly start to have these breakthroughs.

If you look at Uber, they were fighting for a decade to just be like, yeah, it's actually better and safer than a cab — and the entrenched interests were fighting them.

Or Airbnb with the hotels.

Self-driving cars.

Everything that's truly innovative and breakthrough is going to upset an entrenched incumbent, eventually intersect with the government, and just piss off some segment of the population who are like...

"How dare you question the status quo."

— @brian_armstrong

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

https://t.co/BUgQfMwgAc

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

https://t.co/6SXzgB1sol

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

https://t.co/g3vyOm2ePJ

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

@starallsec naol

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

https://t.co/52XcuisS0i

[Ernest Buhangin @ernestdb]

everyday.

https://t.co/WLKdoLfeau