21
21 (formerly 21e6, later Earn.com) was a bitcoin company founded during the November 2013 bubble. It raised large venture rounds, pursued mining and hardware ideas, then shifted to paid email and task micropayments before Coinbase acquired Earn.com in 2018. Coinbase later shut Earn.com down to focus on Coinbase Earn.
History
Early history and secrecy
21 was founded in 2013 as 21e6, with the name being a reference to the controlled supply cap of the bitcoin economy.[1] In November, it was the subject of intense speculation after revealing $5 million in venture capital from a regulatory filing.[1] Co-founder Balaji Srinivasan stated that the startup's secrecy was "solely for pragmatic reasons – we didn’t have anything to say to the world,"[1] and they would not reveal their plans until May 2015.[2]
Venture capital
By March 2015, 21 raised over $100 million in venture capital from numerous investors including Qualcomm Inc.,[1][2] Andreessen Horowitz,[1] Khosla Ventures,[1] Cisco,[2] and others.
Product
Between 2013 and 2018 the company emphasized mining-related work and later consumer hardware concepts such as embeddable mining chips. It then reduced mining and focused on software for micropayments, including paid email and tasks.[3]
Earn.com and Coinbase
In October 2017, 21.co rebranded to Earn.com.[4] In April 2018, Coinbase acquired Earn.com. Co-founder Balaji Srinivasan joined Coinbase as CTO. Deal value was widely reported around $100 million.[5][6]
In December 2019, reporting stated that Coinbase was sunsetting Earn.com to focus on Coinbase Earn, with users given roughly two months to withdraw funds.[7]
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Casey, Michael (10 March 2015). "Secretive Bitcoin Startup 21 Reveals Record Funds, Hints at Mass Consumer Play". Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/10/secretive-bitcoin-startup-21-reveals-record-funds-hints-at-mass-consumer-play/. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Casey, Michael (18 May 2015). "Bitcoin Startup 21 Unveils Product Plan: Embeddable Chips for Smartphones". Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/05/18/bitcoin-startup-21-unveils-product-plan-embeddable-mining-chips/. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- ↑ Srinivasan, Balaji (16 April 2018). "The Turnaround". https://medium.com/@balajis/the-turnaround-2d145589d814.
- ↑ news.earn.com (31 October 2017). "21.co is now Earn.com". https://news.earn.com/21-co-is-now-earn-com-3e37e50c444f.
- ↑ Russell, Jon (16 April 2018). "Coinbase buys Earn.com and makes CEO Balaji Srinivasan its first CTO". https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/16/coinbase-buys-earn-com-and-makes-ceo-balaji-srinivasan-its-first-cto/.
- ↑ Schleifer, Theodore (16 April 2018). "Coinbase is buying Earn.com for about $100 million in a deal that is mostly about one key hire". https://www.vox.com/2018/4/16/17242796/coinbase-acquisition-earn-balaji-srinivasan.
- ↑ Coinbase Closes Earn.com One Year After $100M Acquisition