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Earn.com Founder Balaji S. Srinivasan Is Leaving Coinbase
Balaji S. Srinivasan, creator of the secretive 21.co and Earn.com, is leaving as CTO of Coinbase.
By John Biggs
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 9:08 a.m. Published May 4, 2019, 12:39 p.m.
Balaji S. Srinivasan, founder of Earn.com and CTO of Coinbase, publicly announced his exit from the company in a pair of Tweets last night.
"Coinbase was fun and it was energizing working with so many great people. I'll be taking a bit of time off to get back in shape — and up to speed on everything happening while I was heads down," he wrote. "More soon!"
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"The Earn integration was successful and we’ve closed ~$200M in deals for the new Coinbase Earn. Was also my privilege to help with shipping new assets, launching USDC, & getting staking/voting going."
Coinbase bought Earn.com in 2018 and made Srinivasan CTO after months of rumors. Earn started as the secretive and well-funded 21E6 aka 21.co which released a mining product before pivoting to a service that paid users for answering questions.
Srinivasan is Stanford graduate who holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and a master's in Chemical Engineering. A rumored misfit in the organization led to the exit.
“We are very grateful to Balaji for all of his contributions to Coinbase," wrote a Coinbase PR spokesperson. "His efforts over the past year have had a major impact on the trajectory of the company. He’s on to his next challenge and we wish him well.”
2/2 Coinbase was fun and it was energizing working with so many great people. I'll be taking a bit of time off to get back in shape — and up to speed on everything happening while I was heads down. More soon!
— Balaji Srinivasan (@balajis) May 4, 2019
Srinivasan's exit is one of many that happened after the company's $300 million raise.
Balaji Srinivasan image via CoinDesk archives
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