Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, has announced his intention to sell 2% of his Coinbase stock and invest the funds into innovative longevity research in a move that could see ~$54 million put towards the advancement of longevity science.
Armstrong’s decision echoes that of other cryptocurrency and tech entrepreneurs who have become interested in this evolving field. For example, H.E. Justin Sun of TRON recently donated to the Longevity Prize, and Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, has donated to SENS Research Foundation, the Impetus Grants, Longevity Prize and the Methuselah Foundation.
Why is this investment significant?
In a Tweet on October 15th, 2022, Armstrong stated:
I’m passionate about accelerating science and tech to help solve some of the biggest challenges in the world. To further this, I’m planning to sell about 2% of my Coinbase holdings over the next year to fund scientific research and companies like @newlimit + @researchhub.
Brian Armstrong owns 16% of total Coinbase shares, has a net worth of $2 billion, and controls 60% of the company’s voting shares. His investment promise is currently valued at approximately $54 million, but it fluctuates with the Coinbase share price.
Coinbase was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong, the company’s current CEO. He was soon joined by Goldman Sachs trader Fred Ehrsam. Its current market cap is $17.315 billion, making it a prominent market player in the crypto arena.
NewLimit and ResearchHub
This latest announcement is not Armstrong’s first indication of his interest in longevity science. In 2020, Armstrong was involved in founding ResearchHub, and in 2021, he announced the creation of NewLimit. Both of these companies are centered around innovative scientific research.
ResearchHub is a company dedicated to “accelerating the pace of scientific research” and focuses on making science more accessible, collaborative, and prioritized. Marketing itself as a GitHub for science, this company intends to use technology to build collaboration within the science arena, similarly to the way that GitHub serves as aid to software engineers. This open platform is built to make research more accessible and reusable. It is powered by its native token, ResearchCoin (RSC), also known as the ERC20 token.
NewLimit is dedicated to extending the human lifespan by treating age-related diseases. In a Medium post marking its foundation, Brian Armstrong and Blake Byers announced that “NewLimit will start by deeply interrogating epigenetic drivers of aging and developing products that can regenerate tissues to treat specific patient populations.” With an initial investment of $105 million, NewLimit is set to target epigenetic research and plans to seek out the best industry talent to further its aims.
However, it is not yet clear if these will be the only two organizations that will benefit from Armstrong’s donation.
The ~$54 million investment into longevity science
Brian Armstrong’s promise to invest 2% of his Coinbase stock, an estimated $54 million, to longevity science is a move that follows his initial investment into NewLimit and ResearchHub. This aligns with his interests with other crypto investors in the longevity sphere, such as Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum) and H.E. Justin Sun (TRON).
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