Airbnb founder and CEO Brian Chesky told CNBC that he is “very proud” of what one of the company’s first software engineers has achieved since renting out the online home market.
The former Airbnb employee is Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Coinbase. The cryptocurrency exchange increased in a direct listing on Wednesday in a key milestone for the burgeoning digital asset industry.
“Brian is actually one of the original architects of our payment platform and our fraud detection system. So I’m really very proud of what he does,” Chesky said in an interview aired on “Tech Check” on Friday.
Airbnb, based in San Francisco in December, which had a sensational IPO in December, was founded in 2008. Armstrong worked at the company for a little over a year. Shortly after leaving in 2012, Armstrong started Coinbase with Fred Ehrsam, a former foreign exchange trader at Goldman Sachs.
Chesky said he “kept in touch with Armstrong.”
At the time of the founding of Coinbase, bitcoin was only three years old and cost about $ 6. Ehrsam still serves on the board of Coinbase, but resigns from a day-to-day role in 2017. He is now a managing partner at Paradigm, a crypto-focused investment business he helped start.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like Ether have torn apart in recent months.
One factor cited for the rise in bitcoin prices – which rose from less than $ 11,000 to more than $ 61,000 from Friday – was institutional adoption. Bitcoin, which accounts for more than half of the $ 2 trillion market for cryptocurrencies, peaked at close to $ 65,000 on Wednesday.
Two major Wall Street banks – Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs – are taking steps to give wealth management customers exposure to bitcoin, and companies such as Tesla have bought the digital coin with cash on their balance sheets. The manufacturer of electric vehicles has also accepted bitcoin as payment for its products.
Billionaire Rick Caruso’s real estate firm also recently invested in bitcoin and will enable tenants in its residential and retail properties to pay rent using the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase (L), and Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb.
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When asked by CNN’s Deirdre Bosa whether Airbnb has any plans related to adopting cryptocurrencies, Chesky said he does not ‘currently have anything to announce.
However, Chesky liked to talk about bitcoin, as well as the role that Armstrong’s Coinbase played in building a crypto exchange focused on security.
“I think one of the lessons here is when you give power to people, it offers more economic empowerment and more access,” Chesky said. “But to get people more power, people need to be able to trust each other.”
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are backed by blockchain technology, a decentralized digital ledger that records transactions. Proponents expect blockchain adoption to grow in the coming years, and some people compare its disruptive potential to being similar to the early days of the Internet.
“Obviously, cryptocurrencies have their own trust system. Airbnb, our trust system based on our reputation system, I think could unlock a lot of economy,” Chesky said. “So I think these general tendencies to unlock systems of trust that enable more people to participate in the economy are a great blessing to the world economy.”
Coinbase shares rose about 5% on Friday to about $ 340 per share, about $ 12 higher than where its debut session closed two days ago. Coinbase’s market capitalization is close to $ 67 billion.
Since closing 112% in its IPO debut at the end of last year, Airbnb’s shares have risen about 20%. The stock traded around $ 177 on Friday, giving Airbnb a market capitalization of more than $ 106 billion.
Airbnb’s business benefits from picking up after a slowdown caused by Covid’s pandemic. Chesky told CNBC the company believes it “needs millions more hosts” to keep up in the coming years. It currently has 4 million hosts.