Cobie's 13-year journey from $200 to fame and fortune

Author: David; TechFlow

On October 21, 2025, Coinbase announced the acquisition of on-chain investment platform Echo for $375 million.

Just the day before, Coinbase spent $25 million to buy an NFT, solely to revive a podcast.

Two days, two transactions totaling $400 million, all linked to the same person:

Jordan "Cobie" Fish.

Who is Cobie? If you follow the English-language crypto community, you'll know this name carries a plethora of labels. 800,000 Twitter followers, founder of Echo, host of the UpOnly crypto podcast, co-founder of Lido Finance... and the whistleblower whose tweet exposed insider trading at Coinbase. In the crypto world, he's one of the few OGs who's been around since 2012 and remains active on the front lines. After the acquisition was announced, Cobie wrote on X: "I honestly didn't expect Echo to be sold to Coinbase." It sounds like a polite remark, but anyone who regularly reads his social media knows it's likely sincere. Because when he founded Echo two years ago, he also said:

"I think there is a 95% probability that it will fail."

A man who always shouts about failure, eventually received nearly $400 million in investment. As a frequent investor in various crypto projects, Cobie does not seem to be short of money.

But the story did not begin like this. Like every crypto player with dreams of getting rich, he himself tells it all: he was just a student in 2012, buying some Bitcoin with $200. From unknown student to crypto OG, Cobie's journey is a near microcosm of the 13-year history of the crypto industry: early idealism, the frenzy of ICOs, the rise of DeFi, the collapse of FTX... He was there. Crucially, he wasn't just there; he's survived through the cycles of bull and bear markets. In an industry where everyone craves quick riches, surviving for the long term is, for most, a rare blessing, and a form of perseverance that's incredibly difficult to achieve. Entering the Crypto Industry with $200 and Developing Zero-Value Celebrity Coins (2012-2014) In 2012, Jordan Fish, then a computer science student at the University of Bristol in the UK, bought his first batch of Bitcoins for less than $10 each. According to his later account on Twitter, he entered the crypto industry with only $200 in capital. At the price of $10, this was equivalent to approximately 20 Bitcoins at the time. He also gave himself the online nickname: CryptoCobain, which he later changed to Cobie. In 2013, Bitcoin soared from $13 to $1,000. In January of that year, Cobie landed a job as Technical Director at a British startup called CYOA. Until a serendipitous opportunity arose, leading Cobie to develop a "celebrity coin" that changed his trajectory. From 2011 to 2012, Bitcoin received virtually no coverage in mainstream Western media. The Keiser Report was one of the few media programs to consistently discuss cryptocurrency, playing a crucial role in shaping the community's early understanding. The show's host, Max Keiser, later became a Bitcoin advisor to the President of El Salvador. Keiser became a "crazy evangelist" in the crypto world for his accurate prediction that Bitcoin would rise to over $1,000, coupled with his exaggerated performance style, such as frequently tearing up dollar bills on the show. At the time, Keiser half-jokingly tweeted that if a coin called Max Keiser could reach a market value of $1 billion, he would appear naked on the show. Cobie and his partner, Luke Mitchell, actually created a coin called Maxcoin, forking it from the then-current Bitcoin. This may have been the first celebrity coin to appear on television in crypto history, more than a decade before the wave of presidents and celebrities launching coins. On January 28, 2014, Keiser Report episode 555 was titled "Launch of Maxcoin." In front of a global audience, Keiser mined the genesis block of MAX. On February 14, Valentine's Day, Maxcoin soared to $3.11, with a market capitalization of $8.5 million. Cobie and Luke were even invited on Keiser's show to discuss technical details. Then reality struck. Aside from Keiser's calls on the show, Maxcoin had no real use. No merchants accepted it, and there were no real-world applications. To make matters worse, in February 2014, Mt. Gox collapsed, and the entire crypto market collapsed. By December 31, 2014, Maxcoin closed at $0.00666, a 99.8% drop. Code updates ceased, and even Keiser himself stopped mentioning the coin. Meanwhile, Cobie continued working at the UK tech startup until April 2015. As a developer, he himself stated on Twitter that he had never held Maxcoin. By then, Bitcoin had fallen from $1,000 to $200. Most people who entered the crypto world in 2013 might have left the crypto world forever, but Cobie chose to stay. Working in Web2 Growth and Being a KOL on Twitter (2015-2020) In April 2015, Cobie left his technical leadership position at CYOA and joined a programming education startup called Enki as Head of Growth. The crypto market was completely silent. Bitcoin was trading sideways between $200 and $400, and most altcoins were at or near zero. Maxcoin had been completely forgotten. Like most people, Cobie could have dismissed the previous few years of coin issuance as a youthful adventure and returned to his normal life. And indeed, it seemed he did just that. In August 2017, he jumped to Monzo, then the UK's hottest fintech unicorn. The digital bank, which focused on a mobile-only banking experience, attempted to disrupt the traditional banking industry. That summer, Bitcoin had just broken through $2,000, and the ICO craze was brewing; by December 2017, Bitcoin would rise to nearly $20,000, sending the entire crypto world into a frenzy. But Cobie was still in the Monzo office. Outside the office, from 2017 to 2020, the crypto market experienced a complete bull and bear cycle: the frenzy at the end of 2017, the crash in 2018, the sideways movement in 2019, and the COVID-19 crash in March 2020. During these three years, public reports indicated that he "earned enough money working at Monzo to devote himself full-time to cryptocurrency." Meanwhile, he never stopped tweeting, commenting on Bitcoin prices, mocking ICO projects, analyzing DeFi protocols... He became a fixture on Crypto Twitter, a perpetually online voice with opinions. By March 2020, in an interview, he revealed his asset allocation: only 5% in cryptocurrencies, 95% in cash and other traditional assets. This figure surprised many. As a well-known influencer in the crypto community, he held almost no cryptocurrency. This might explain why he was able to stay at Monzo for three years. He didn't need to rely on cryptocurrency trading to make a living; he had a stable income and career development. In the summer of 2020, everything changed. DeFi exploded. Compound issued the COMP token and launched liquidity mining. Uniswap airdropped UNI, making early users rich overnight. Suddenly, those who had persisted discovered a new opportunity. In September 2020, Cobie left Monzo. He had been lurking in traditional tech companies for over five years. This time, however, he was no longer just a rookie programmer. His work in product and growth roles brought him both income and experience, and even more valuable, knowledge of the financial industry. The Maxcoin developer who had once lost everything was poised to become one of the most successful early investors in the DeFi era. Betting on Lido and Launching a Podcast (2020-2022) In October 2020, a month after Cobie returned to the crypto world full-time, he made a life-changing investment. At the time, two Russian programmers were developing a project called Lido. Their solution was liquidity staking: users staked any amount of ETH and received stETH as a voucher, which could be freely traded. Most people might not have understood the purpose of this. But Cobie clearly did. Not only did he invest, he also helped the project find auditors, wrote tweets, and introduced it to other investors. He became one of Lido's earliest and most active supporters. By the end of 2021, Lido had become the largest staking service provider on Ethereum. By 2024, Lido's assets under management exceeded $30 billion, and the market capitalization of the LDO token exceeded $2 billion. Cobie's early investment saw a return of over 1,000 times. According to multiple overseas media reports, this investment alone earned him "millions of dollars." But it was a podcast that truly transformed Cobie from a Twitter influencer into an industry influencer. In April 2021, Cobie and another crypto influencer, Ledger, co-founded the UpOnly podcast. The timing was also ingenious. It was at the height of the bull market, and everyone wanted to learn about cryptocurrency, but most podcasts were either too technical or too superficial. UpOnly has found a perfect balance: discussing deep topics in a relaxed manner. Industry leaders like Vitalik, Michael Saylor, Do Kwon, SBF, and CZ have all appeared on his podcast. These individuals are willing to spend an hour or two chatting with the two hosts. Cobie and Ledger don't play it safe on the show. They ask silly questions, make jokes, and admit they don't understand. This allows these leaders, accustomed to serious interviews, to relax and open up about things they wouldn't otherwise. Meanwhile, the podcast's business model is also quite interesting. They issued NFTs (UpOnly NFTs), which are like membership cards, allowing holders to participate in recordings, ask questions, and access exclusive content. These NFTs later fetched over 10 ETH on the secondary market. A few days ago, Coinbase acquired this NFT collection for $25 million. It's worth noting that UpOnly's most ironic sponsor was actually FTX. SBF's exchange sponsored UpOnly for a long time until its sudden collapse in November 2022. On the day of the crash, Cobie was livestreaming, tracking $400 million in suspicious fund flows in real time. He reviewed on-chain data and explained what had happened. This livestream later became a key document of the FTX debacle. Ironically, Cobie became the whistleblower for insider trading at Coinbase. In December 2022, Cobie tweeted that a wallet address had purchased a large amount of a Coinbase token before it was listed. This wasn't just a one-off coincidence, but a consistent pattern. Within hours, the tweet was retweeted tens of thousands of times. Media outlets began reporting on the incident. Regulators launched an investigation. Ultimately, the US Department of Justice indicted Ishan Wahi, a former Coinbase product manager, in what became the first cryptocurrency insider trading case in US history. Coinbase was forced to publicly respond and improve its listing process. The entire industry began discussing transparency. And Cobie, the developer of a celebrity coin that once went to zero, has now become an industry watchdog. By the end of 2022, his influence reached its peak. With over 800,000 Twitter followers, he's one of the most influential voices in the English-language crypto world; UpOnly is also one of the most popular crypto podcasts. More importantly, he cultivated a unique persona: an early adopter, a tech savvy, and a successful investor, yet he also sneered at hype, exposed shady dealings, and maintained a certain distance. In his own words: "I'm still a cynic (Cobain), but now I'm rich." But Cobain himself likely understood that influencers have a short lifespan and that podcasts can become outdated. He needed to build something more enduring. Echo, possibly my last entrepreneurial venture (2023-2025) In early 2023, the crypto market was still at the bottom of a bear market. Still reeling from the aftermath of FTX's bankruptcy, Cobie posted a poignant tweet: "The best time to build is when everyone feels hopeless." A few months later, Echo quietly launched. Unlike the high-profile development of Maxcoin, Echo had no launch event, no white paper, and even no formal announcement. It was simply a simple website with an even simpler function: to help projects raise funds from early investors. Specifically, Echo does two things. First, it enables crypto projects to sell tokens to qualified investors through private placements. Second, through a tool called Sonar, it allows ordinary users to participate in certain public offerings. The entire process takes place on-chain, making it non-custodial and transparent. Initially, it barely resembled a product. Its interface and functionality were simple: a tool to help projects and investors sign SAFTs (token purchase agreements). But the first project soon emerged: Ethena. Why did Ethena choose a newly launched, unknown platform? The answer is simple: it's all Cobie. Ethena's founder, Guy Young, is a frequent guest on the UpOnly podcast and has a close personal relationship with Cobie. More importantly, Cobie not only provides the platform but also personally invested in Ethena and publicly expressed his support on Twitter. For a new project, Cobie's endorsement is invaluable. Ethena completed its seed round of funding through Echo. A few months later, when Ethena became one of the hottest DeFi protocols in 2024, Echo's credibility was instantly established. Subsequently, major projects like MegaETH, Initia, and Plasma launched fundraising on Echo; by mid-2024, Echo's operational model had matured. A typical process goes like this: A project finds Echo, the Echo team conducts basic due diligence, the project sets financing terms, and tokens are issued through Echo's smart contract. Investors (institutional or individual) invest through the platform, with both funds and tokens transparently transferred on-chain. Crucially, Echo itself doesn't hold funds or provide investment advice; it simply provides tools and connections. Cobie's role goes far beyond simply being the founder of this financing platform. He's actually Echo's top business development officer. Every time he interviews a founder on his podcast, they become potential Echo customers. Every time he comments on a project on Twitter, he's implicitly advertising Echo. He didn't even need to actively promote it. When you're one of the most influential voices in crypto, people will find you. By the time it was acquired in October 2025, Echo had processed over $200 million in transactions across approximately 300 investments. In a sense, Coinbase wasn't just acquiring the Echo platform; it was acquiring the entire ecosystem that Cobie had built. This explains why Coinbase was willing to pay $375 million; they were buying the key to access this network. The transaction structure indicates this isn't an all-cash acquisition; it includes Coinbase stock, meaning Cobie is now a Coinbase shareholder. The Echo team will join Coinbase, but the brand will remain independent for now. The Sonar tool will be integrated into Coinbase's product portfolio. From Coinbase's perspective, the logic behind this acquisition is clear. Having just acquired token management platform LiquiFi in July 2025, they've now acquired Echo. LiquiFi manages post-token issuance, while Echo handles financing. Together with Coinbase's own exchange business, they form a complete chain from primary to secondary markets. The community's reaction after the acquisition announcement was interesting. Some said Cobie sold too early, and that Echo could have become a standalone unicorn. Others said this proved the feasibility of influencer-led startups. Others dug up old posts from 2014, comparing Maxcoin's collapse to Echo's exit, and lamented that "it takes ten years to sharpen a sword"—you always have a chance at the poker table. Cobie himself didn't seem to rest either. He immediately announced he was joining Paradigm as an advisor, "focusing on liquid markets, trading, and DeFi trends." The Last OG In the crypto world, 13 years is an incredibly long time. Most of the early adopters from 2012 have either retired or vanished after a certain cycle hit zero. Exchanges have come and gone, public blockchains have changed several times, and even the definition of decentralization has shifted several times. But Cobie is still here. He's witnessed every cycle, participated in every bubble, and survived every crash. He's not the biggest moneymaker, certainly not the most famous, or even the most successful entrepreneur in the cryptocurrency world; but he may be the most complete crypto practitioner: he's traded in cryptocurrencies and lost money; started a business and failed; invested and found success; worked as a KOL, influenced the market, built products, and achieved exits. From Jordan Fish to CryptoCobain, from a college student who bought $10 worth of Bitcoin to an entrepreneur acquired by Coinbase, this story took a long 13 years. What kept him alive until now? In his own words, perhaps it was knowing the difference between luck and strength, and being able to move smoothly between the two: “I was lucky early on, and made some good altcoin trades early on, which put me in a profitable state. I thought I was really good at this thing called cryptocurrency trading. But anyone who thinks they are good at it right from the start is wrong. If you are lucky enough to join a bull market and successfully trade altcoins, that doesn’t mean you are good at it.”