F red Ehrsam is an American technology entrepreneur and investor who is a prominent and influential figure in the cryptocurrency industry. He is the co-founder of two of the most important companies in the crypto space: the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the crypto-focused venture capital firm Paradigm. A former foreign exchange trader at Goldman Sachs, Ehrsam became fascinated with Bitcoin early on.

In 2012, he co-founded Coinbase with Brian Armstrong, with the mission of creating a user-friendly platform for buying and selling digital currencies. The company grew into the largest crypto exchange in the United States and its successful public listing made Ehrsam a billionaire. He left his day-to-day role at Coinbase in 2017 and, a year later, co-founded Paradigm with a former Sequoia partner. Paradigm has become one of the largest and most influential venture capital firms dedicated solely to investing in the next generation of cryptocurrency and Web3 companies.