Benzinga | Apr 16, 2021 09:52AM EDT

Coinbase's First Employee Was Paid Entirely In Bitcoin When It Was Worth $13

Olaf Carlson-Wee -- the first employee at major United States crypto asset exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) -- got his job with a cold email and was paid exclusively in Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) for three years.

What Happened: According to a CNBC report, Carlson-Wee sent his 90-page undergraduate thesis on Bitcoin in an enthusiastic but "annoyingly long" cold email to Coinbase, asking for a job at the company.

He said, "I literally cold emailed jobs@coinbase and said, 'I love bitcoin. Here's my thesis. I'll do any job."

While in most cases, such an approach would likely result in being ignored, Carlson-Wee received an email from one of Coinbase's two co-founders, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) trader Fred Ehrsam five minutes later, inviting him to a video call. The 20-minute video call resulted in an invite for an in-person interview in San Francisco.

See also: How to Buy Coinbase IPO (COIN) Stock

At the end of the selection process, Carlson-Wee landed a customer-support job for three years, being paid a starting salary of $50,000 per year in Bitcoin.

In early 2013 the price was just over $13 per bitcoin before spiking to more than $1,100 later that year.

Just yesterday, Bitcoin broke a new all-time high of $64,000 just days after breaking $63,000 for the first time.

Price Action: Coinbase stock closed at $325, with a 0.70% gain.

Image: Glassdore, Coinbase