SUROJIT Chatterjee was Coinbase’s high-flying chief product officer who joined the firm from Google during the cryptocurrency gold rush of 2020.
But what is the story behind Chatterjee?
Who is Surojit Chatterjee?
Chatterjee graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur with a degree in computer science in 1997, before moving to New York and doing a master’s at Buffalo University.
Chatterjee started his career as a research intern at IBM in 1998 and was then offered a full-time role as a software developer.
He then moved to Oracle where he spent five years before taking time away from his corporate career to complete an MBA at MIT Sloan School of Management.
READ MORE ON 24/7 CRYPTO
Chatterjee then joined Symantec Corporation as a product manager.
He then moved to Google, where he was a founding member of the search engine’s mobile search ads product, spending nine years at the company.
He then moved to Flipkart – an Indian e-commerce site – as Head of Product before returning to Google as Vice President of Product, where he led Google Shopping, helping people discover and compare products.
Chatterjee was hired by Coinbase in February 2020 on a base salary of just under $1 million per year.
Under Chatterjee Coinbase’s cryptocurrency listings increased from 25 tokens to way over 200.
He developed the company’s crypto wallet, NFT marketplace and its Coinbase One subscription service for traders wanting 24/7 customer support and no trading fees.
But in November 2022, Chatterjee left the cryptocurrency exchange.
In a Linkedin post, he said working at Coinbase was “a ride” and “the most exciting roller coaster” from which he now needs a break after spending three years at the firm.
“It’s time to get off the ride and catch my breath,” Chatterjee wrote.
Chatterjee retained his advisory role to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong until February 3, 2024.
As well as needing a break, Chatterjee’s departure from the cryptocurrency exchange also appeared to be due to personal reasons.
He said: “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.”
What is Surojit Chatterjee’s net worth?
While at Coinbase Surojit Chatterjee earned around $115 million.
His five-year contract was worth an alleged $646 million but his time was cut short, bringing down his total take-home.
The chief product officer also retained 249,315 shares of COIN stock, worth more than $7 million.