Brian Armstrong, CEO and Co-Founder of digital asset firm Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), confirms that commerce pioneer and open-source programmer, Tobias Lütke will bring his extensive experience and perspective to bear as Coinbase continues to expand its global presence and develop new products.
Armstrong wrote in a blog post that he’s pleased to share that Tobias “Tobi” Lütke, CEO and founder of Shopify, will be joining Coinbase’s Board of Directors.
As noted in the update, Tobi brings “a wide variety of skills and expertise to the Coinbase board.” He’s considered “a tremendous entrepreneur, building Shopify from the ground up into a global commerce leader.”
He also believes in “the power of crypto and was an early adopter of crypto through Shopify’s integration with Coinbase Commerce.”
Serving millions of merchants in over 175 countries, Shopify “sits at the nexus of three important areas that crypto seeks to revolutionize: Finance and payments, web applications, and the internet itself.”
A builder “at heart,” Tobi started writing computer code in his early teens. He soon “became an active member of the open source community, contributing to projects such as Ruby on Rails, Liquid and ActiveMerchant.”
Building on his expertise in creating open source initiatives, Tobi introduced a digital commerce platform back in 2004 “focused on selling snowboarding equipment. This online store soon grew into what we know today as Shopify.”
Tobi’s experience as a founder & CEO, “scaling his business from a small, niche online marketplace into what has become a critical backbone of global ecommerce will help guide Coinbase as we seek to bring crypto to more people and businesses around the world.”
Tobi Lutke stated:
“The concepts of decentralized finance and entrepreneurship exemplify the promise of Web3 where opportunity exists for the many, not the few. Coinbase and Shopify share this like-minded vision, and I am excited to join the Board to support the future that Brian and the Coinbase team are building.”
Shopify has been able to “put a powerful, yet simplified platform into the hands of millions of merchants across the globe, and in the process changed the lives of billions of people.”
With his guidance, Coinbase is now hoping to “unlock crypto’s potential to increase economic freedom in the same way Shopify democratized online commerce.”
Armstrong concluded:
“I look forward to working with and learning from Tobi as we work to grow the cryptoeconomy.”
Note that this appointment is “subject to formal Board confirmation later this week.”