Over the past several weeks, it has become even more clear that executive leadership at Coinbase is failing to deliver on its responsibilities and duties. However, while it is easy to point out the missteps of the current executives, we must also consider starting to look at new candidates to join leadership positions. As both employees and shareholders of the company, who share the same long-term vision of increasing economic freedom in the world, we believe Coinbase can benefit from a more visionary and methodical executive. 

One person who would be a great asset to the executive team is Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji was the CTO at Coinbase from 2018 to 2019, where he was in charge of major initiatives such as the scaling up of infrastructure and the rollout of USDC. We can either see Balaji returning as a CTO again or as a replacement for Emilie/Surojit, where he could help guide us through the looming downturn as well as the loss of morale and trust in the company. Balaji is a great fit for several reasons:

1. He has a technical background. Besides having multiple degrees in EE from Stanford, he has taught classes in Computer Science and Statistics and has used this knowledge to start tech companies in crypto and biotech. Coinbase, at its heart, is a technology company, and in order to revamp our infrastructure and streamline our product vision, we will need someone who can actually understand the atoms and bits that allow the company to run in the first place. 

2. He has domain knowledge and industry background. Having co-founded Earn.com, which was later acquired by Coinbase, he knows what it takes to start a crypto company from scratch, scale it up, and endure the setbacks. These are skill sets that should be ingrained in the executive leadership at a crypto company; however, both our CPO and COO lack these skills and experience. 

3. He has skin in the game. Having investments in a wide variety of crypto-focused startups like Coinbase, Ava Labs, and Opensea, Balaji is taking on personal risk, which would give him greater motivation to ensure the long-term success of the company and the industry as a whole. 

4. He is worldly and well educated, having extensive knowledge of technology, society, and politics. While this does not necessarily affect Coinbase day-to-day, it does reflect his outlook on the future. These attributes have helped him develop ideas that are ahead of the times, such as the failure of central institutions and the rise of new startup cities. This can be especially useful when coming up with novel projects and finding ways to integrate the crypto economy with the rest of the world economy.

These are just a few of the reasons why we believe Balaji Srinivasan would make a great fit for a return to the executive leadership. If he is unable or unwilling to rejoin the company as a CTO (or CPO/COO), then we shall at least hold executives up to the standard of Balaji and find replacements who are up to his level. 

Let’s Revive COIN. Bring Back Balaji. If not Balaji himself, then Bring Back the Spirit of Balaji.

Over the past several weeks, it has become even more clear that executive leadership at Coinbase is failing to deliver on its responsibilities and duties. However, while it is easy to point out the missteps of the current executives, we must also consider starting to look at new candidates to join leadership positions. As both employees and shareholders of the company, who share the same long-term vision of increasing economic freedom in the world, we believe Coinbase can benefit from a more visionary and methodical executive. 

One person who would be a great asset to the executive team is Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji was the CTO at Coinbase from 2018 to 2019, where he was in charge of major initiatives such as the scaling up of infrastructure and the rollout of USDC. We can either see Balaji returning as a CTO again or as a replacement for Emilie/Surojit, where he could help guide us through the looming downturn as well as the loss of morale and trust in the company. Balaji is a great fit for several reasons:

1. He has a technical background. Besides having multiple degrees in EE from Stanford, he has taught classes in Computer Science and Statistics and has used this knowledge to start tech companies in crypto and biotech. Coinbase, at its heart, is a technology company, and in order to revamp our infrastructure and streamline our product vision, we will need someone who can actually understand the atoms and bits that allow the company to run in the first place. 

2. He has domain knowledge and industry background. Having co-founded Earn.com, which was later acquired by Coinbase, he knows what it takes to start a crypto company from scratch, scale it up, and endure the setbacks. These are skill sets that should be ingrained in the executive leadership at a crypto company; however, both our CPO and COO lack these skills and experience. 

3. He has skin in the game. Having investments in a wide variety of crypto-focused startups like Coinbase, Ava Labs, and Opensea, Balaji is taking on personal risk, which would give him greater motivation to ensure the long-term success of the company and the industry as a whole. 

4. He is worldly and well educated, having extensive knowledge of technology, society, and politics. While this does not necessarily affect Coinbase day-to-day, it does reflect his outlook on the future. These attributes have helped him develop ideas that are ahead of the times, such as the failure of central institutions and the rise of new startup cities. This can be especially useful when coming up with novel projects and finding ways to integrate the crypto economy with the rest of the world economy.

These are just a few of the reasons why we believe Balaji Srinivasan would make a great fit for a return to the executive leadership. If he is unable or unwilling to rejoin the company as a CTO (or CPO/COO), then we shall at least hold executives up to the standard of Balaji and find replacements who are up to his level. 

Let’s Revive COIN. Bring Back Balaji. If not Balaji himself, then Bring Back the Spirit of Balaji.