Frederick "Fred" Ernest Ehrsam III (born May 10, 1988) is an American entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, the co-founder and general partner of the crypto-focused venture capital firm Paradigm, and the co-founder and CEO of Nudge, a neurotechnology startup developing non-invasive brain–computer interfaces.[1][2]
Ehrsam was born on May 10, 1988, in Boston, and grew up in Concord, Massachusetts.[3] He attended Concord-Carlisle High School.[4] During high school, he became an avid player of World of Warcraft, playing the game on a competitive level and spending thousands of hours exploring its in-game economy. This experience introduced him to the concept of digital currencies, as the game featured its own virtual gold economy driven by player supply and demand.[5][2]
After graduating from Duke, Ehrsam joined Goldman Sachs in New York City as a foreign exchange trader, a position he held from 2010 to 2012.[2][8] During his tenure there, he discovered Bitcoin through a paper written by a Georgetown University professor, and he began trading the cryptocurrency in his spare time. He purchased his first Bitcoin in 2011.[5]
In 2012, Ehrsam and Brian Armstrong co-founded Coinbase in an apartment in San Francisco. The two had met through the Bitcoin subreddit forum on Reddit.[5] Ehrsam served as Coinbase's first president, overseeing the company's growth from a simple platform for buying and selling Bitcoin into one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States.[9][5]
In January 2017, Ehrsam announced that he was stepping down from his day-to-day role at Coinbase, though he remained on its board of directors.[9] In April 2021, Coinbase went public via a direct listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange.[10] As of that date, Ehrsam reportedly still held approximately 8.9% of Coinbase stock and was assigned to the company's audit committee ahead of the offering.[11] He continues to serve on the Coinbase board as a director.[12]
In 2018, Ehrsam co-founded Paradigm, a research-driven cryptocurrency investment firm, with Matt Huang, a former partner at Sequoia Capital.[13] The firm was established to invest in cryptocurrencies, tokens, and companies building on blockchain technology. Ehrsam and Huang served as the firm's co-managing partners.[14]
In November 2021, Paradigm closed a $2.5 billion venture fund—the largest cryptocurrency-focused venture capital fund raised at the time—surpassing the $2.2 billion fund announced by Andreessen Horowitz earlier that year.[15] The firm's portfolio has included investments in projects such as Uniswap, Optimism, and other decentralized finance protocols and blockchain infrastructure companies.[10]
In October 2023, Ehrsam stepped down from his managing partner role at Paradigm and transitioned to the position of general partner, citing a desire to devote more time to exploring scientific areas of personal interest.[16]
Nudge
In 2024, Ehrsam incorporated Nudge, a neurotechnology startup focused on developing non-invasive brain–computer interfaces using low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU). He co-founded the company with Quintin Frerichs and Jeremy Barenholtz, the latter a former vice president of product and technology at Neuralink.[1][17] In April 2025, the company unveiled its first device, the Nudge Zero, a wearable ultrasound headset designed for brain stimulation and imaging within research settings.
In July 2025, Nudge raised $100 million in a Series A funding round led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks.[18] As of mid-2025, the company reported that the Nudge Zero was in near-daily use in research studies, with patient applications expected to follow.[18] The company has stated that its longer-term vision includes developing a consumer headset-like product intended to improve mood, cognition, and sleep.[1]
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