Leaders Series: Kristen Stone @ Coinbase

Issue 1 — March 1st, 2017

This series highlights the unique stories of leaders from various communities across the growing digital currency and blockchain technology industry. The goal is to showcase the fantastic work these leaders are all doing at different levels of their respective organizations, and to encourage more people at all stages of their careers join the revolution we’re creating, together!

Kristen Stone is a Project Manager at Coinbase

She’s been in the industry nearly 3 years. Initially, she led partnerships at Coinbase and managed integrations with major financial institutions such as USAA and Fidelity Charitable. More recently, Kristen transitioned to a project management role where she leads three engineering teams to help Coinbase create an open financial system for the world.

How did you get into the industry?

I learned about bitcoin from a Stuff You Should Know Podcast in early 2013. My background is in Supply Chain, focusing on improving the systems macro economies use, so I loved the efficiency bitcoin created. For six months, I learned everything about bitcoin: hashing power, private keys, potential impact. Everything. I woke up one day and realized bitcoin was my passion. I wanted to do it in my free time, to talk about it with my friends, to theorize on the future of payments. I couldn’t escape it. At the time Coinbase needed help with understanding their data, which happened to be my expertise, so I made the leap from Houston to San Francisco 2 weeks later.

What did you do before you got into this?

Prior to Coinbase, I was building a data analytics team and driving operational improvement at Occidental Petroleum, an oil and gas company in Houston, Texas.

What’s been the most interesting experience you’ve had in your role so far?

My most interesting experience at Coinbase has been the evolution of digital currencies from niche technology to universally discussed. In 2013, the majority of people didn’t have any concept of Bitcoin. Now, in 2017, people come to me with fully formed opinions on the technology. It will take time before mass adoption happens, but the growth over 4 years has been incredible. On a micro level, it feels like everyday is an interesting experience — from launching Ethereum, managing new digital currency regulation, watching new companies launch, and competitors being compromised — the list goes on.

What problem is Coinbase solving? Why do you feel passionate about this?

Coinbase is building the bridge from Finance 1.0 to Finance 2.0, allowing customers access to digital currency. We firmly believe that access to digital currency will be the most effective way to increase economic freedom for the world. There is so much inefficiency in the way global finance runs and historically, there was no easy way to change that (short of becoming an elected official). Now, we can use technology as a lever to change legacy systems — to improve governance models and payment systems so they more closely represent what the community needs.

As you think about the evolution of the bitcoin and blockchain space, what do you think is limiting the growth of the space?

There are two sides to creating an entire new industry (which is what we are doing). One side is driving towards a shared goal. Historically, the bitcoin community gets distracted debating pieces of how to execute our shared goal. This happened with the internet (IETF TCP/IP vs OSI) but remembering our purpose helps minimize distractions. The other side of building a new industry is finding mass adoption market fit. This part requires patience and iteration. In time, the industry will continue to develop and we can support that by understanding the needs of real people and creating products to substantially improve their economic freedom.

As you think about this industry, what are you most excited about for the future? What do you think will be disappointing?

In the short term, I think we will continue to see speculation from consumers. This speculation will reduce volatility and allow people to use bitcoin as a store of value. From there, people can begin to use it as a global currency.

I expect continued government adoption will blow people’s mind — but that is inevitable from what I’ve seen. Countries are essentially competing for businesses to operate in them (eg UK’s Innovate Finance or Monetary Authority of Singapore). In an increasingly global world where borders don’t matter to operate a website, countries that have forward thinking regulation will be the most successful.

Finally, I believe the most disappointing thing is the continued divide between groups. Ultimately, we are building an entire industry. We are a group of smart & strong individuals all working towards a shared goal — leveraging technology to improve global monetary systems.

Connect with Kristen on LinkedIn!