Shan Aggarwal is the first Chief Business Officer (CBO) at Coinbase, a position he assumed in the latter half of 2025. In this role, he leads the company's business development, corporate development, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and its venture capital arm, Coinbase Ventures. He is recognized for his leadership in scaling Coinbase Ventures into one of the most active investors in the web3 industry. ^{[1] [2]}​

Education

Aggarwal attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the Walter A. Haas School of Business. ^[1]

Career

Early Career

Aggarwal began his career in venture capital as an investor at Greycroft, a venture capital firm. He worked there from July 2012 to January 2014, focusing on early-stage investments, which served as a basis for later work with digital assets. ^{[1] [3]}​

In 2014, Aggarwal became an early employee at Vurb, a contextual search engine startup. He served as the Vice President of Business Development and Operations. During his tenure, Vurb was named Best New App at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2014. In 2016, Vurb was acquired by Snap Inc. for a reported $114.5 million, and Aggarwal remained with the company through the transition until July 2017. ^{[1] [4]}​

Following the acquisition, Aggarwal joined Snap Inc. and worked in its corporate development division from July 2017 to July 2018. In this role, he focused on M&A and other strategic initiatives for the company. ^[1]​

Career at Coinbase

Aggarwal joined Coinbase in August 2018 to lead the company's corporate development (M&A) and its newly formed venture investment arm, Coinbase Ventures. ^[1] Over the next several years, his responsibilities expanded to include business development, and his title was elevated to Vice President, overseeing all three departments. ^[2]​

Leadership of Coinbase Ventures

As the head of Coinbase Ventures, Aggarwal was responsible for its growth into one of the most prolific investors in the crypto and web3 ecosystem. By 2023, the venture arm had built a portfolio of over 400 companies. ^[3] The stated mission of Coinbase Ventures under his leadership was to support entrepreneurs working to "advance economic freedom in the world." ^[2]​

The fund's strategy focuses on investing broadly across the web3 ecosystem to foster innovation and act as a strategic periscope for Coinbase, providing insights into emerging trends rather than focusing solely on financial returns. ^[5] Investment areas under his leadership included Decentralized Finance (DeFi), the metaverse, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), developer tools, and Layer 1 and Layer 2 protocols. ^[3]​

Notable portfolio companies invested in during his tenure include OpenSea, TaxBit, FalconX, EigenLayer, and Flashbots. ^{[3] [6]}​

Mergers and Acquisitions Strategy

Aggarwal led Coinbase's global M&A strategy, which prioritized acquiring teams and technology to accelerate the company's product development rather than to increase revenue. He articulated this philosophy in late 2025, stating, "We are a company that pursues M&A to acquire top-tier teams and technology to accelerate our product roadmap and better serve our users. Every acquisition is deeply rooted in our product strategy." ^[7]​

Under his leadership, Coinbase employed a "build, buy, or partner" framework, with acquisitions being used to obtain differentiated technology, licenses, or talent. Notable acquisitions during this period included the crypto brokerage Tagomi, crypto asset manager One River Digital, and the options exchange Deribit. ^{[3] [5]} On October 21, 2025, he announced the acquisition of Echo.xyz, a capital-raising platform, stating the goal was to "enable internet capital markets and make fundraising more open and accessible." ^[8]​

Chief Business Officer (2025–Present)

In August 2025, Aggarwal was promoted to become Coinbase's first Chief Business Officer. ^[8] This role consolidated the company's primary growth engines, Business Development, Corporate Development (M&A), Coinbase Ventures, and international expansion, under his unified leadership. ^[2]​

In a September 2025 interview about his new role, Aggarwal described his teams as "the tip of the spear" in pursuing Coinbase's mission. He stated, "My focus is on integrating our various growth levers, from M&A and strategic investments to partnerships and new market entry, into a single cohesive strategy. We’re moving from building foundational crypto infrastructure to scaling global adoption, and this role is about architecting that next phase of growth." ^[2]​

Strategic Vision as CBO

Following his appointment, Aggarwal outlined a strategic vision for Coinbase focused on institutional adoption, payments, and evolving the company into the core infrastructure of the crypto economy. ^[7]​

Core Priorities

Aggarwal identified several key priorities for Coinbase's next phase of growth: ^[5]​

• Trading Product Expansion: Building out trading products to include not only cryptocurrencies but also traditional assets like stocks and futures.
• Institutional Adoption: Growing the company's B2B offerings through a "Crypto-as-a-Service" model to serve fintechs and traditional enterprises.
• Payments and Stablecoins: Promoting the adoption of stablecoins and building a dedicated crypto payments platform.
• International Expansion: Expanding Coinbase's global presence, particularly in markets with established regulatory clarity.

"Crypto-as-a-Service" Model

A central part of his strategy is to position Coinbase as the "crypto backbone" for other companies, offering white-label solutions and infrastructure APIs that handle regulatory, custody, and technical complexities. ^[7] An example of this strategy was the expanded partnership with Samsung announced in October 2025, which aimed to give over 75 million Samsung Galaxy users access to Coinbase One benefits. ^[8] Other partnerships cited as part of this strategy include BlackRock and Perplexity. ^[5]​

Five-Year Vision for Coinbase

Aggarwal articulated a two-part vision for where he aims to position Coinbase by 2030. First, to be a comprehensive financial platform where users can trade, save, and manage finances. Second, to become the "AWS of Crypto," making Coinbase's infrastructure, particularly its Layer 2 network Base, essential for any entity entering the on-chain economy. He stated, "I envision Coinbase becoming synonymous with crypto infrastructure—much like AWS (Amazon Web Services) is in cloud computing." ^[7]​

Public Commentary and Published Works

Aggarwal is a public commentator on trends in cryptocurrency and venture capital. He has authored articles as a columnist for the industry publication CoinDesk, where he shares analyses on topics such as the future of web3 and M&A in the crypto market. ^[9]​

He maintains an active presence on X (formerly Twitter), where he discusses web3 developments, Coinbase announcements, and the venture landscape. ^[8] He also represents Coinbase at major industry events, such as the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore in September 2025. ^[8]​

Awards and Recognition

In 2023, Shan Aggarwal was named to the Global Venturing Powerlist, an annual list recognizing the top 100 leaders in corporate venture capital. The publication cited his instrumental role as the head of Coinbase Ventures, highlighting the firm's significant impact and high activity level in the web3 ecosystem, having invested in over 400 companies. ^[3]​

Interviews

Shan Aggarwal on M&A and Venture Investing #01

In an interview published on the Messari YouTube channel on December 5, 2024, Shan Aggarwal discussed mergers and acquisitions, venture investment practices, and structural developments in the crypto sector. The conversation took place during Mainnet 2024 and was moderated by Jeff John Roberts.

During the discussion, Aggarwal described how Coinbase Ventures operates as an internal investment arm funded by Coinbase corporate balance sheet rather than external limited partners. According to his account, this funding structure supports longer holding periods, delayed exit strategies, and capital recycling within the organization. He characterized the firm activities as extending beyond capital allocation, including operational interaction with portfolio companies through product collaboration, partnerships, and on-chain participation such as staking and liquidity provision.

Aggarwal also outlined his assessment of current technical trends in blockchain infrastructure. He pointed to increasing adoption of modular architectures within Ethereum-compatible environments, noting the use of Layer 2 networks and emerging Layer 3 frameworks to separate execution, data availability, and settlement functions. In addition, he addressed the interaction between artificial intelligence systems and blockchain networks, citing programmable wallets as a mechanism that enables automated agents to conduct transactions without reliance on traditional banking infrastructure.

From a geographic and market standpoint, Aggarwal identified emerging economies as areas where crypto adoption is linked to specific use cases, including stablecoin utilization for inflation exposure, remittances, and cross-border transfers. He noted that consumer-facing applications and blockchain-based gaming have received substantial investment but continue to face challenges related to sustained user adoption. He further stated that the increasing number of blockchains and scaling solutions may lead to consolidation over time, driven by liquidity concentration and network effects.

The interview reflects Aggarwal interpretation of prevailing industry conditions based on his role and experience within Coinbase Ventures and its investment portfolio, without presenting prescriptive conclusions about future market outcomes. ^[11]

Coinbase’s Acquisition of Echo and On-Chain Capital Markets #02

In an interview published on the YouTube channel Empire on October 21, 2025, Shan Aggarwal, Chief Business Officer at Coinbase, discussed the company’s acquisition of Echo and explained his view on how the transaction relates to Coinbase’s broader approach to mergers and acquisitions, capital markets infrastructure, and product development.

Aggarwal stated that Coinbase agreed to acquire Echo for an estimated value between 350 and 400 million USD, structured through a combination of cash and equity. According to him, Echo operates as a platform designed to support compliant, on-chain fundraising, enabling projects to raise capital directly from distributed communities. He described the acquisition as a way to incorporate an earlier-stage capital formation function that had not previously been part of Coinbase’s product offerings.

He explained that Coinbase’s acquisition decisions follow a build-versus-buy assessment based on long-term product priorities. In his account, acquisitions are considered when developing similar capabilities internally would require additional time or specialized expertise, and when external teams can be integrated into the organization. Aggarwal noted that cultural alignment and long-term collaboration are key factors in these transactions, with acquired teams typically becoming internal contributors rather than remaining independent entities.

Aggarwal also outlined his perspective on Coinbase’s approach to on-chain capital markets. He described an effort to link fundraising tools, ownership and cap table management, token issuance, and secondary market access within a single infrastructure. He indicated that regulatory frameworks continue to shape the scope and pace of these initiatives, particularly in areas involving tokenized securities and equity-like instruments.

In addition, Aggarwal addressed prediction markets as an area under evaluation within Coinbase’s broader product strategy. He characterized these markets as one of several financial primitives being assessed for potential integration, with decisions influenced by regulatory considerations and internal development priorities.

According to Aggarwal, the acquisition of Echo reflects a broader organizational direction rather than a standalone transaction. He framed it as part of Coinbase’s ongoing effort to expand its financial services infrastructure, with an emphasis on compliance, integration across products, and long-term operational alignment. ^[10]