Emilie Choi, President and chief operating officer at Coinbase
Emilie Choi is an American entrepreneur best known in crypto for her long-standing role running one of the biggest crypto exchanges, Coinbase. She joined Coinbase in early 2018 as the vice president of business and data before gradually moving up the ranks to become the exchange’s president and chief operating officer. Based in San Jose, California, Choi is an economics graduate from Johns Hopkins University and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Before working with CEO Brian Armstrong to create the Coinbase exchange, Choi had important executive positions with a number of well-known companies in the sector, including Warner Bros., LinkedIn, Yahoo, and Naspers.
Choi has taken part in a number of seed and Series A and B funding rounds for different financial institutions as well as angel investing. She also has a strong background in consumer internet, software as a service, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, corporate strategy, business operations, business growth, and data analytics.
According to Emilie, ETFs should expand the pie and bring new people and institutions into the cryptoeconomy. One stat that she finds really powerful is that 52 million Americans own crypto today despite the current regulatory overhang. So we imagine what will happen once ETFs are introduced and widely available. RIAs, retirement funds, and other institutions that have been precluded from this asset class historically will gain access to crypto for the first time, and that’s very powerful.
In terms of economic impact, the primary way that Coinbase will monetize ETFs directly in the near term is through custody fees. And Coinbase is very proud to have been selected to partner with the majority of the potential issuers who are among the world’s most trusted financial institutions.
2022
As we enter 2019, Coinbase appears to be in a strong position to continue leading the charge for regulatory clarification around cryptocurrencies in the US. Additionally, the Nasdaq-listed business will probably keep establishing roots in offshore jurisdictions.
If history is any indication, executives from Coinbase, such as Armstrong and Choi, will be key in the global regulatory discussions around cryptocurrencies. Coinbase will shut down its San Francisco headquarters and transition to a decentralized remote-work environment, envisioning a global network of smaller offices.
Coinbase’s NFT offering, which reflects resounding support for the nonfungible token sector, is anticipated to take off, with the platform waitlist collecting 1 million signups before launch. Long term, Choi’s global acquisition binge, which is assisting Coinbase in expanding to new geographies and demographics, shows no signs of slowing down.
Latest news about Emilie Choi
Coinbase’s research highlights the evolution of tokenization in the financial world, from representing ownership of tangible assets to digitizing financial assets like sovereign bonds and money market funds. However, challenges remain, particularly around infrastructure and jurisdictional boundaries. The Federal Reserve’s rate hikes and the crypto market sell-off in 2022 have rekindled interest in blockchain’s core value. Successful mainstream integration depends on consolidation efforts in financial verticals, jurisdictional limits, and technology stacks.
From the moment I met him, I’ve been learning from @FEhrsam. Grateful for all he’s done and continues to do for Coinbase and the ecosystem, and excited to see what he does next. https://t.co/JUVf5glhAC
