In this episode, we sit down with Shan Aggarwal, Coinbase's Chief Business Officer, who oversees a range of operations from partnerships to investor relations. We talk about his journey at the company, where he's helped shape major initiatives like the Tagomi acquisition, Coinbase Prime, USDC, and Base. Along the way, we touch on how Coinbase's culture has evolved over the years, how the company makes non-consensus product bets, and how it integrates the businesses it acquires into its products. Shan also discusses the USDC partnership with Circle and the role the stablecoin ended up playing on Hyperliquid, the importance of network effects, and Coinbase's approach to tokenized equities. Finally, he tells us more about his hobbies, what he's learned from leaders like Brian Armstrong and Jensen Huang, and the traits he looks for when betting on high-agency people.
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Altitude – the global business account with stablecoin and fiat bank transfers, free on-and off-ramps, 5% APY, corporate cards, bill pay, and more.
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Timestamps
(0:00) Intro
(0:36) Altitude
(1:37) Shan’s role and his journey from VC to Coinbase
(5:11) Acquiring Tagomi, building Coinbase Prime, and raising in a bear market
(12:03) The evolution of Coinbase’s culture
(25:14) Prediction markets, Coinbase Ventures, and competing with partners
(32:10) Tokenized equities and bootstrapping on-chain liquidity
(36:32) USDC, Hyperliquid, and stablecoin network effects
(40:28) How Coinbase integrates acquired companies
(43:16) Repositioning Coinbase beyond a crypto exchange
(50:39) Padel, protocol IR, and Shan’s crypto convictions
(57:30) Leadership lessons and betting on high-agency people
(1:07:12) Cobie, Echo, and Coinbase’s capital-formation strategy
