Kings of Crypto

5

Hard Times

Fred and Brian’s philosophy of running through brick walls had served the company well, inspiring employees to pull off near-impossible feats in the name of growth. But like Face-book, whose early motto was “move fast and break things,” Coinbase would pay a price for its run-and-gun approach. Running through brick walls is a killer tactic—when it works. When it doesn’t, you end up on your ass—with a bloody nose.

Coinbase’s earlier bid to outwit Apple, for instance, had been clever. It let the startup flout Apple’s rules by letting customers buy and sell bitcoin directly in its app, all the while keeping the iPhone maker in the dark by disabling the buy-sell feature in the city of Cupertino, where the app was vetted. But it took Apple ...