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Paul Puey, the Co-Founder and CEO of Edge, formally known as AirBitz, hopes to decentralize financial services, connecting the consumer directly to their cryptocurrency.
Paul grew up in the Bay Area where he was often reminded of the increasing importance of tech. He shared that he always had some interest in computer science, creating his first database in the seventh grade while working on real estate mailout campaigns. He would later attend University of California, Berkeley, where he studied electrical engineering and computer science. There he developed a game and found a great passion for 3D graphics, which led to six years at NVIDIA as a software engineer.
He eventually came down to San Diego with little to no connections and found himself working at a local climbing gym, MesaRim, where he helped build out their programs. He didn’t think he’d find himself back in the tech space, but a single line on a financial blog brought his attention to Bitcoin. It was from there he “went down the rabbithole,” doing extensive research about the future of cryptocurrency.
That led him to work with William Swanson, Scott Morgan, Daven Catillo, and Tim Horton to found AirBitz, a crypto wallet that allowed users to hold their own funds and transact without a third party. With time, the team realized that users wanted to treat their currency like an asset. So, they transitioned to a mobile-exchange wallet and rebranded it as Edge. The startup quickly advanced from a bitcoin wallet in 2014 to a security solution and multi-currency wallet in late 2017.
Despite launching both Airbitz and Edge during “down” cycles of Bitcoin (which happen every three to four years), the team has still been able to increase its user base and grow the company. Using exchange volume as its primary metric, Edge has grown steady from 2018 to 2020, with an especially impressive growth rate in the first month of 2021.
Paul was one of the frontrunners of Bitcoin, known as an ‘OG’ in the community. He brought this knowledge not only to his company, but also to San Diego, hosting Bitcoin meetups since AirBitz was first founded.
Listen in to hear Paul discuss the future of financial services and what kind of role he hopes Edge can play in this hot market.
Favorite Tacos:
Traditional – Tacos El Cabrón in Downtown
Non-Traditional – City Tacos in North Park
Connect with Paul:
Keep up with Edge:
Facebook: @EdgeWallet
Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.
