Fred Ehrsam
VCCo-Founder & Senior Advisor, Paradigm
Paradigm co-founder; Coinbase co-founder
Background
Fred Ehrsam co-founded Coinbase in 2012, serving as President until 2017, and remains a board member. He co-founded Paradigm in 2018 alongside Matt Huang as a crypto-native investment firm. In 2023 he transitioned from Managing Partner to General Partner and Senior Advisor. He is also co-founder and CEO of Nudge, a neurotechnology startup building non-invasive brain-computer interfaces. In 2026 he was appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Before Coinbase he was a foreign exchange trader at Goldman Sachs.
Investment Thesis
Back transformative crypto infrastructure and protocols; early-stage conviction investing in foundational blockchain technologies.
Investment Focus
Stages
Typical check: $1M–$50M+
Sectors
Based in: Global (North America)
Notable Investments
Uniswap
Paradigm portfolio; leading DEX protocol
Optimism
Paradigm portfolio; Ethereum L2 scaling
Compound
Paradigm portfolio; DeFi lending protocol
dYdX
Paradigm portfolio; decentralized derivatives
OpenSea
Paradigm portfolio; NFT marketplace
Blur
Paradigm led seed; NFT marketplace
MakerDAO
Paradigm portfolio; DAI stablecoin protocol
Flashbots
Paradigm portfolio; MEV infrastructure