Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain): Coinbase CEO: Every Early User Got a Whole Bitcoin to Try the App
Estimated coin impact
Scores are not price-change percentages. High impact means a score of +70 or more, or -70 or less.
- BTC+5Positive
Coinbase CEO: Every Early User Got a Whole Bitcoin to Try the App In an interview published by The Wolf Of All Streets @scottmelker on September 20, 2026, Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong said that when the Coinbase app launched in 2012, he gave one bitcoin to every person willing to try it, when each bitcoin was worth about $5 to $10. Around 1,000 people received the giveaway, and years later, some returned to tell him the bitcoin was worth $60,000 to $100,000. Armstrong also recalled that few people took crypto seriously in its early days, while the U.S. government now holds a strategic Bitcoin reserve — something he said he could hardly have imagined at the time.