Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian shares his feelings on $14 billion-worth tech mogul Brian Armstrong and his 'smart' Coinbase move

Serena Williams' husband and Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian talked about the $14 billion tech mogul Brian Armstrong and his decision to create his own company, Coinbase. Armstrong established the cryptocurrency platform in June 2012.

Armstrong began his career as a developer for IBM and a consultant at Deloitte, later joining Airbnb as a software engineer in 2011. Following his departure from Airbnb, the 41-year-old, along with Fred Ehrsam, co-founded Coinbase, an online platform for cryptocurrency fans to trade Bitcoins and other digital currencies.

Ohanian recently took to social media to share his thoughts on Brian Armstrong and Coinbase. He recalled meeting Armstrong shortly after his departure from Airbnb and expressed surprise at his decision to leave a successful company to pursue a new venture.

Ohanian explained that witnessing Armstrong's transition from Airbnb to Coinbase inspired him to delve deeper into the world of cryptocurrency.

“I remember meeting this young man, Brian Armstrong, he had just left Airbnb. Clearly a very smart guy. Airbnb was clearly a very successful company, he was choosing to leave to start something new, to be the best and safest way to buy crypto online. And I thought someone this smart, company this successful who still wants to just step away and build something he believed was going to be his life's work, that’s something I needed to lean in, learn more about,” Ohanian said.

Serena Williams' husband disclosed that he had turned to Reddit's Bitcoin community, a social media platform he co-founded, to expand his knowledge on the subject.

“So I went to Reddit, visited the r/Bitcoin community. The audience there on Reddit has always been among the earliest adopters of technology. Not everything goes viral. Not everything goes mainstream. But here was a community that was very frustrated because it was very hard to buy this cryptocurrency that they believed in,” he continued.

Alexis Ohanian noted that Armstrong was the first to publicly put his name on a cryptocurrency website which, in turn, instilled a sense of security among potential investors.

“Brian Armstrong was the first one to really put his hand up and say "I want to do this and do this above board and put my name on the website and I want people to feel safe buying this asset,”” Serena Williams' husband said.

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian shares his experience of starting Reddit: "I was just hoping it would work"

Alexis Ohanian speaking at an event [Source: Getty]

Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, along with Steve Huffman and Aaron Swartz, co-founded Reddit in 2005. He initially left the social media company in 2010 but returned in 2014 as an executive chairman.

Recently while speaking on the "On Purpose with Jay Shetty" podcast, Ohanian shared that when he first launched Reddit in 2005, he was uncertain about its success due to the limited number of people creating online content at that time.

“Early on these really radical communities almost never existed. Certainly back then ‘cause there were just fewer people online, 2005 starting Reddit I was just hoping it would work. There were so few people online, actively creating content that for early years," Serena Williams' husband said.

Ohanian added:

“I left in 2006 after sale to Conde Nast and asked to stuck around till 2010, then I left and went onto become a partner at Y Combinator. Started a venture fund and I came back in 2014 as executive chairman."

Last year, Alexis Ohanian credited his return to Reddit in 2014 for helping him meet Serena Williams.