Fred Ehrsam

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.

Early life and education Ehrsam was born on May 10, 1988, in Boston, and grew up in Concord, Massachusetts. He attended Concord-Carlisle High School. 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. At Duke, he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Career Goldman Sachs 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. 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. 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. He continues to serve on the Coinbase board as a director.

Paradigm

In 2018, Ehrsam co-founded Paradigm, a research-driven cryptocurrency investment firm, with Matt Huang, a former partner at Sequoia Capital. 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.

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. The firm's portfolio has included investments in projects such as Uniswap, Optimism, and other decentralized finance protocols and blockchain infrastructure companies.

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. 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. 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.