This IIT graduate is worth ₹5,000 crore, just 15 months after joining Coinbase

Surojit Chatterjee (left) with Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong (photo: https://blog.coinbase.com)Premium
Surojit Chatterjee (left) with Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong (photo: https://blog.coinbase.com)
 1 min read . Updated: 15 Apr 2021, 08:56 AM IST Staff Writer

Chatterjee joined Coinbase last February after three years at Alphabet Inc.’s Google

Surojit Chatterjee joined Coinbase Global, the biggest US crypto exchange, as chief product manager in February 2020. In just 15 months, the former Google executive’s Coinbase stake is accounted to be worth about $180.8 million ( ₹1,500 crore) after it’s first volatile day of trading in New York on Wednesday. He’s also set to receive share options within the next five years that are currently worth about $465.5 million ( ₹3,500 crore), according to Bloomberg.

Chatterjee, a BSc graduate from IIT Kharagpur, joins Coinbase founders Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam as major winners of the firm’s Nasdaq Inc. debut. Together, their stakes are worth more than $16 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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Coinbase shares opened at $381, giving it a valuation of close to $100 billion. The price rose to almost $430 before retreating to close at $328.28. The company went public as Bitcoin -- which together with Ethereum made up most of its 2020 trading volume -- is trading around its all-time high. Bitcoin has more than doubled in price this year to about $64,000.

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Chatterjee joined Coinbase last February after three years at Alphabet Inc.’s Google, where he led the company’s shopping platform during his second stint at the search giant. He previously headed product and delivery for mobile search ads and AdSense before a brief stop at Indian e-commerce site Flipkart. His experience at the Bangalore-based company appealed to Armstrong.

“When someone has only lived, worked, or transacted in a country like the United States, it can be difficult to grasp the size of the opportunity in simplifying cross-border transactions," Armstrong, who is Coinbase’s chief executive officer, wrote in the company's blog post last year announcing Chatterjee’s appointment.

With inputs from Bloomberg

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