The future of crypto, with Coinbase’s Emilie Choi
When Emilie Choi first left Linkedin to go work at a crypto company called Coinbase, her old colleagues thought she made a big mistake. But after surviving a crypto winter, she’s become a key figure in the rise of the company – and the industry. Now Coinbase President and COO, Choi talked with host Reid Hoffman about the operating lessons that enable hyper-scaling and the future of money. This conversation was recorded live on stage at the Presidio Theatre as part of the 2025 Masters of Scale Summit.
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#226 President & COO Coinbase, Emilie Choi: Through the Storm
Guest: Emilie Choi, president & COO of Coinbase
After the collapse of FTX in 2022, “the whole industry was tarnished,” recalls Coinbase COO Emilie Choi. “Politicians came out criticizing crypto, saying it was a fraud.”
But unlike FTX, Coinbase was a public company in the U.S. So when the SEC served it a Wells notice, announcing its intent to charge the company with violating securities laws, the executive team took an unusual step: They went on the offensive, publicly calling BS on the agency.
“Well-regarded CEOs from TradFi, they were like, ‘You don’t do that,’” Emilie says. “’You don’t antagonize your regulator.’ ... It was a combination of chutzpah and maybe desperation that we were like, ‘We have to go tell our story, because if we don’t, nobody else will.’”
Chapters:
(01:14) - Working with founder CEOs
(04:12) - Mission first
(07:16) - Reviewing candidates
(09:48) - Unusual hiring
(11:22) - Crypto after FTX
(16:29) - Operation Choke Point 2.0
(19:19) - Grin and bear it
(21:24) - Channeling negativity
(24:21) - Going to war with the SEC
(26:20) - Donald Trump and Gary Gensler
(28:38) - Was it worth it?
(31:19) - Shipping challenges
(34:03) - OKRs and personal goals
(36:41) - Brian Armstrong and structure
(40:56) - The COO guidebook
(43:30) - Removing bureaucracy
(46:50) - Investing in crypto
(49:41) - After Coinbase
(53:03) - Constantly on
(54:53) - Favorite interview questions
(56:28) - Who Coinbase is hiring
(58:28) - Standing for something
Mentioned in this episode: Google Chat, executive coaches, Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn, Jeff Weiner, speed reading, Warner Bros., Elizabeth Warren, Sam Bankman-Fried, Wells notices, Paul Grewal, Chris Lehane, Airbnb, OpenAI, FOIA requests, Balaji Srinivasan, Dan Romero, Kevin Scott, Microsoft, Patrick McHenry, Ritchie Torres, Fairshake PAC, A16z, Ripple, Stand With Crypto, Dogecoin, Robinhood, Charles Schwab, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Paul Ryan, Faryar Shirzad, Kara Calvert, Elon Musk, Earn.com, Ben Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Claire Hughes Johnson and Scaling People, Directly Responsible Individuals, Fidelity, BlackRock, Yahoo!, Stewart Butterfield, Brad Garlinghouse, Alibaba, Flickr, cognitive tests, and Loom.
Links:
Connect with Emilie
Twitter
LinkedIn
Connect with Joubin
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Emilie Choi explains what Wall Street doesn’t understand about Coinbase
2021 was a watershed year for crypto exchange Coinbase.
In addition to becoming the biggest cryptocurrency company to tap the public markets via a direct listing, the firm grew its total assets-on-platform to more than $255 billion, hired more than 3,000 people, and clocked in quarterly revenues above $1 billion during both the second and third quarters.
Still, the company’s stock price has slid since its market debut in April, down by more than 31% since its first day of trading. The bearish sentiment is likely tied to the lack of predictability in Coinbase’s revenues, which are volatile and heavily dependent on trading fees.
During the latest episode of The Scoop, Coinbase president Emilie Choi said that Wall Street is focused too much on the predictability of short-term revenue rather than the much broader gameplan the company has for becoming a foundation for the emerging crypto-economy.
“We have obviously our flagship brokerage, and then we have the exchange and those are reinventing what a financial system can mean,” she said. “And then the final part of this strategy is about crypto as a new form of App Store, and there’s so much to tap into there.”
That shift could help diversify its revenue model, she added.
“We have largely a trading model that generates a ton of revenue for us, and we love that model and we’re totally OK with the volatility of it. And at the same time, we’re investing very heavily in the subscription and services model, and you’re seeing a lot of growth from that because it’s the thing that helps us control our own destiny.”
To that end, Choi said the firm plans to pour more resources into its Coinbase Wallet. It is also expanding its subscription businesses — like Coinbase Cloud — as a means to grow its non-transaction-based revenue.
....For more visit theblockcrypto.com/podcasts
Episode 1 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and President & COO Emilie Choi of Coinbase.
Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.
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President and COO Coinbase, Emilie Choi: Rising Through the Crypto Ranks
"Crypto" is a term that has recently re-shaped the way the world thinks about money. For Emilie Choi, President and COO at Coinbase, it has been at the forefront of her work and mind for quite some time. Emilie is a true workplace warrior and that is reflected in her leadership at Coinbase as she has cultivated an ethos that endears her entire organization and those she works alongside.
In this episode, Emilie doesn’t pull the punches as she divulges her own strengths and weaknesses and how she strives to make them both equal assets. She also expounds on fostering connections in the workplace, her mission-oriented mindset, and how it is a mindset she likes to see in entrepreneurs. Emilie also offers essential insight into the current shape of cryptocurrency and the exciting direction that it is headed.
In this episode, we cover:
Emilie’s competitive advantage and how she transformed her weakness into an asset. (3:35)
Sensitivity in the workplace: Emilie opens up about a time when she showed her vulnerability in her “top of mind” email to the organization and how that cultivated a connection across the teams. (7:34)
Building out LinkedIn’s Corp Dev team in its early stages and how entrepreneurs successfully ran LinkedIn’s three business lines. (9:21)
Missionary vs mercenary: Emilie shares why it’s refreshing to work with crypto entrepreneurs who are mission-oriented - and Joubin taps into his recent experience with hiring a candidate. (13:00)
Why Emilie admires Amazon’s core business strategy - and her opinion on companies she would hypothetically buy. (17:36)
How Emilie’s desire to continue learning led her to make a lateral move from LinkedIn to Coinbase - and how she navigated the recruitment process of her team. (22:10)
An overview of Coinbase: assets, revenue, long-term trajectory, and their three main focuses - and Emilie breaks down Coinbase’s innovation by comparing it to the evolution of mobile phones. (31:10)
‘Volatility is a feature, not a bug’: What volatility means for Coinbase - and why Amazon and Adobe serve as an influence for Coinbase as they invest in their future acts. (38:38)
Weathering the crypto winter: How Emilie frames investing in crypto to potential buyers - and how she integrates grit and resilience into her role and across the organization. (43:47)
Emilie shares her thoughts on Coinbase’s %5 employee departure after their pledge to be apolitical - and what she admires about the Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong. (49:09)
Emilie reflects on what she has learned as she grew into COO and President - and how Coinbase grew to be the number one regulated crypto custodian in the world. (56:22)
Links:
Connect with EmilieLinkedIn
Coinbase
Connect with JoubinTwitter
LinkedIn
Email: gtmg@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Emilie Choi is the President and Chief Operating Officer @ Coinbase, the easiest place to buy and sell cryptocurrency. Prior to their IPO earlier this year, Coinbase raised funding from some of the best in the business including USV, a16z, Initialized and Ribbit to name a few. As for Emilie, before Coinbase she was Head of Corporate Development for @ LinkedIn and before Linkedin served in various positions at Warner Bros., including as Manager of Corporate Business Development and Strategy. If that was not enough, Emilie currently serves on the board of Naspers and ZipRecruiter.
In Today's Episode with Emilie Choi You Will Learn:
1.) How Emilie made her way into the world of startups, came to lead Corp Dev @ Linkedin and how that led to her joining forces with Brian @ Coinbase as COO & President? What lessons did Emilie learn from Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner that she has taken with her to Coinbase?
2.) Corp-Dev Guide: Why are so many startups trying to hire Head of Corp Devs today? What are the signals that suggest now is the right time? How would Emilie structure the process of hiring a Head of Corp Dev? What questions should be asked? How can you test their skills? What mistakes do CEOs often make when hiring Head of Corp Devs?
3.) COO Guide: What does the role of COO really mean to Emilie? How does Emilie advise founders on whether they do actually need a COO? How would Emilie structure the process of hiring a COO? What are some common red flags that concern Emilie when hiring COO's? What is the right relationship between CEO and COO?
4.) Resource Allocation: How does Coinbase think about internal resource allocation between core product and their venture products? What was the thinking behind Coinbase Ventures? Why do they have no full-time staff? What is the core objective of the fund? Why does Emilie think it will be one of the best performing funds in venture?
Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with Emilie Choi
Emilie's Favourite Book: The Secret History
A Conversation with Emilie Choi, VP Business and Data, Coinbase
Frank Chaparro and Teo Leibowitz interview Emilie Choi, VP of Business, Data & International at Coinbase in this episode of The Scoop. Frank and Teo ask questions that cover a variety of topics spanning Emilie's rise at Coinbase to why crypto exchanges shouldn't be compared to their traditional counterparts. Emilie also shares her thoughts on what Coinbase's focus areas are in the near future.
For the transcript and additional reading materials: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/05/29/emilie-choi-coinbase/
20VC: LinkedIn's Head of Corp Dev on Why and When Startups Should Start Relationship Building With Corp Dev, What The Structure of M&A Traditionally Looks Like & How To Mitigate The Biggest Risk of M&A, Integration Risk
Emilie Choi is Head of Corporate Development @ Linkedin where she has led 40+ acquisitions, acquihires or investments. In terms of acquisitions, Emilie led the acquisitions of Lynda, Bizo, Newsle, Bright, Pulse, SlideShare, and Rapportive just to name a few. On the strategic investment side, she led Linkedin's investment in Cornerstone On Demand and G2 Crowd. Before Linkedin, Emilie enjoyed roles such as Director of Digital Business Strategy and Operations at Warner Bros, International Strategy and Ops @ MySpace and Corp Dev and Strategy @ Yahoo. Emilie has also sat on the Naspers board for the last 10 years.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Emilie made her way into the world of M&A and came to lead over 40+ game-changing acquisitions for Linkedin?
2.) In 2016, M&A made up 95% of startup exits, how does Emilie evaluate the current state of exit environments? What 2 reasons have caused the drop in startup M&A? How does Emilie view the rise of PE and strategic investors to the acquisition markets?
3.) Paul Graham said 'startups should only talk to corp dev when they are doing really well or really badly'. What are Emilie's thoughts on when is the right time for startups to have conversations with Corp Dev teams? When does Emilie you most like to begin the relationship? How does Emilie like to work with VCs in this relationship building?
4.) Paul Graham also described the structure of M&A as "grueling". Does Emilie agree with this? How does Emilie map out the structure of a typical M&A deal, from start to finish? How much of a role does price play in her evaluation of a deal? How does Emilie measure the success of an acquisition?
5.) Matt Switzer @ Hootsuite stated the biggest M&A risk to be integration. What does smooth integrations look like for both consumer vs enterprise? Why do they differ? How can this integration work be de-risked and front loaded?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Emilie's Fave Book: The Bonfire of the Vanities
Emilie's Most Recent Investment: Heighten
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