Marc Andreessen joins Coinbase board as observer

Marc Andreessen, cofounder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, has joined Coinbase’s board of directors as an observer.

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We’re excited to announce the addition of two new leaders to Coinbase’s boardroom. Please join us in welcoming @pmarca of @a16z and @gokulr. Both bring a wealth of experience that will benefit the company, our customers and the broader #crypto community. https://t.co/3JBLMbdqSp

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— Coinbase (@coinbase) August 31, 2020

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Also joining the board was Gokul Rajaram, an executive at the U.S. meal-delivery company DoorDash.

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The company said it will continue to work with Dixon and Shuler as advisers.

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“The company sincerely thanks Chris and Barry for their contributions to Coinbase and wishes them success as they share their knowledge and ideas with the next generation of technologists, builders and pioneers,” the company said.

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The board appointments come as Coinbase eyes a public offering. Crunchbase data shows the company has raised $547.4 million in venture capital toward an IPO.

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Investors include Tiger Global Management, Y Combinator Continuity, Wellington Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain, Section 32, Balyasny Asset Management, Draper Associates, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, Tusk Ventures, Spark Capital, Bank of Tokyo, USAA, DFJ, Blockchain Capital and the New York Stock Exchange.

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The changes to the board followed Coinbase’s announcement of Marcus Hughes as the new chief executive of its European arm, Manish Gupta as the new executive vice president of engineering, and Greg Tusar as the new vice president of institutional products.

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The Coinbase board comprises six members. It includes co-founders Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, as well as former U.S. Justice Department official Kathy Haun, Charles Schwab board member Chris Dodds, and Union Square Ventures cofounder Fred Wilson.

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ForkLog previously published a lengthy feature on who Marc Andreessen is and why he reshaped his company for cryptocurrency.

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The Centre consortium, which includes Coinbase and Circle, introduced a new version of the USDC stablecoin that does not require paying gas in ETH.

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