Coinbase CEO believes aging will soon become optional

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has said getting old will soon become optional. The latest of his pro-longevity statements comes a few weeks after he disclosed that his startup NewLimit is “making some incredible progress.”

The pro-longevity crypto founder is among the people who view aging as a disease. In a post Wednesday, Brian said that aging is a disease that kills over 100,000 people a day. 

Research data specifically shows that nearly 150,000 die around the world every day. Two-thirds of the deaths are due to conditions that worsen with age, like cancer, heart disease, and dementia, among others.

Brian sold Coinbase stake to fund a longevity startup

“Getting old shouldn’t be viewed as inevitable, just because it happens to everyone,” he wrote, adding that “hopefully it will be optional in the future.”

Brian’s thesis to beat aging is to reprogram old human cells back to a younger state. Since major diseases are correlated with aging, he believes they could be prevented by restoring the function that was present in younger cells.

In 2022, Brian sold 2% of his Coinbase holdings, investing an initial $110 million to co-found NewLimit in pursuit of extending human lifespan by reversing cellular aging. Last year October, NewLimit closed a $45 million funding round, valuing the company at $1.62 billion, which Brian said was “driven by progress.”

NewLimit developed its first prototype medicine that restores multiple youthful functions in old hepatocytes around June last year. By November, the team announced they’ve been able to advance their 1st reprogramming medicine, making it 8x more precise and 1.6x potent.

“We have the potential to radically extend human healthspan in the coming decades using epigenetic reprogramming,” Brian said.

Crypto founders are betting heavily on anti-aging

Coinbase’s CEO is not the only crypto exec heavily funding anti-aging initiatives. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has also donated millions in the past towards nonprofits and longevity projects.

In 2018, Buterin donated $2.4 million worth of Ether (ETH) to the SENS Research Foundation, a nonprofit researching medicine to fight aging. Buterin also donated 1,000 ETH and 430 billion ELON tokens to the Methuselah Foundation, and $25 million in SHIB tokens to the Future of Life Institute, although he recently announced he no longer aligns with the organization due to its change of direction from initial research goals. 

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