Reflecting on my crypto and web3 journey, but time for a little break….

Three years of building, three years of growth, three years of the most exciting roller coaster I could imagine — but now it’s time to get off the ride and catch my breath.?

After an incredible run that began in February 2020, I’ve decided to leave my current role as Chief Product Officer at Coinbase. Although this is certainly the end of a chapter, I’m looking forward to continuing to help Coinbase grow by serving as an adviser to the company’s co-founder and CEO, Brian Armstrong.?

It’s hard to believe how much has changed since my first day at Coinbase. When I joined the company, we were mostly serving consumers, and we only offered our users the opportunity to buy and sell a few assets (25, to be precise).?

Over the last three years we’ve greatly expanded our product portfolio and our product and engineering teams, increased assets on platform by ~7X, increased MTUs by 8X. Today our users can access hundreds of assets (we list 200+ assets on our exchange and allow users to access far more through DEX-es). Our users can send and receive crypto, earn rewards on it, and even use it to pay anyone with their crypto-backed debit card.?

We’ve also built a thriving institutional business, and we’re working with thousands of developers to help them build the fastest and most secure Web3 apps. We pivoted from being a purely custodial and centralized company to one that partners with the Web3 world and actively engages with the broader ecosystem. We’ve made significant progress in executing on our Web3 strategy on a number of projects - for example, the Dapp wallet, Dapp marketplace, wrapped ETH, direct withdrawals and send/receives to L2s/L1s, native DEX trading on our main app enabled by a secure MPC-based wallet, and of course our new and improved Coinbase Wallet, which has become the most-loved Web3 wallet for users. I couldn’t be more proud of what the team has accomplished over the last three years of exciting product launches.

Today Coinbase serves three distinct customer groups - retail users, institutions and developers. Working with Brian, I took initial steps a few months ago to organize my teams in tighter alignment with those customer groups. Since then, it’s been heartening to see the leaders of these groups continually step up and deliver, and I’m convinced that continuing to empower them to make an even wider range of decisions will truly unlock the potential of their businesses.??

As our product leaders have taken on more responsibility, I’ve been able to consider taking a much-needed personal break to spend more time with my family. It has been a tough year for me personally — my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and my mother passed away unexpectedly. If I’m honest with myself, I don’t think I’ve allowed myself time to grieve either yet.

As I reflect on my time at Coinbase, I’m thankful for the amazing experience, which all started when I picked up a call from a recruiter at a stop sign. In the days and months that followed I got to know Brian, the rest of the Coinbase executive team, and its Board members. My confidence in the company and the executive team grew with each and every conversation, and I’m immensely proud of what my team and I have accomplished together.?

We built a product management, design and user research team that can compete with the best in the world, and I’ll certainly miss working with my colleagues. Coinbase shall always remain very close to my heart, and I will continue to be inspired by Coinbase’s mission to increase economic freedom in the world.?

I’m looking forward to continuing to contribute in my role as an advisor to Brian and the exec team and to continuing the hard but critical work of creating more economic freedom and building a better internet for everyone.