Coinbase, giant American Cryptocurrency exchange has appointed new president, Emilie Choi after the departure of president and chief operating officer Asiff Hirji was announced on Friday.
Choi has garnered rich experience in her stint at Yahoo! Inc. and LinkedIn Corp., where she drove the company’s entry into China.
With Coinbase, Choi has served as the company’s vice president of business, data and international. Choi also presided over Coinbase’s $300 million Series E funding round last October, which valued the company at $8 billion and was one of the first hires of Hirji’s, outgoing president of Coinbase, and she has been working closely with Armstrong on looking at potential partnerships, and acquisitions.
Asiff Hirji, the outgoing president, was a former TD Ameritrade Holdings Corp. executive. This is the latest in the series of departures by senior executives at the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange. Since late 2018, there has been the departure of Chief Technology Officer Balaji Srinivasan, as well as leaders in its institutional offering including Dan Romero, Adam White and Christine Sandler.
Hirji joined the giant exchange in 2017 while the Crypto industry was at its peak before the bear market started. Also, he was instrumental in steering the boat of Coinbase in the stormy rage of the bear market throughout 2018. His stint witnessed a bigger push into international markets and products for institutional firms.
While commenting on the departure of Hirji, Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, noted that “His experience and mentorship helped guide Coinbase through an important chapter in its history. He joined at a critical time when both the company and crypto space were going through rapid growth, bringing his extensive experience to bear when it was most necessary.”
