# Emilie Choi President and Chief Operating Officer of [[Coinbase]] — the operator running day-to-day business at the company that bankrolled the crypto industry's 2024 election campaign. Where [[Brian Armstrong]] is the public face of the [[Crypto-Political Machine]], Choi is the executive who spelled out what the money was for. The day after the 2024 election she posted a screenshot of a *New York Times* headline — "The Crypto Industry Spent Over $130 Million on the Election. It Paid Off." — with four words: **"We’re just getting started…."** (see [[Emilie Choi - We're just getting started]]). ## Career - **Wall Street to Silicon Valley corporate development.** Investment banking analyst at Legg Mason Wood Walker (2000–2003), corporate development and strategy at Yahoo (2003–2005), leadership roles at Warner Bros. Entertainment (2007–2009). - **LinkedIn (2009–2018).** Vice President and head of corporate development — LinkedIn's M&A chief. - **Coinbase (March 2018–present).** Joined as VP of corporate and business development; later VP of Business, Data and International. Promoted to **President and COO in December 2020**, ahead of Coinbase's April 2021 public listing. Her X bio still reads "President and COO at Coinbase" as of October 2026. - **Boards.** Named to the board of Okta (identity-security company) in August 2022; has also served on the boards of ZipRecruiter, Naspers, and Prosus. - **Education.** B.A. in economics, Johns Hopkins; MBA, Wharton. ## "We’re just getting started" — the 2024 victory lap On **November 6, 2024**, the afternoon after the election, Choi posted the *Times* headline with the caption "We’re just getting started…." The article, by David Yaffe-Bellany, reported that [[Fairshake PAC]] and its two affiliates (Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs) had spent **about $135 million** — "financed by donations from the crypto companies Coinbase and Ripple and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz" — and that the spending had delivered: | Race | Crypto money | Outcome | |---|---|---| | Ohio Senate | ~$40M for [[Bernie Moreno]] in the closing weeks | Moreno defeated [[Sherrod Brown]], chair of the [[Senate Banking Committee]] | | California Senate primary | $10M in attack ads on [[Katie Porter]], an ally of [[Elizabeth Warren]] | Porter lost the March primary | Coinbase's chief legal officer Paul Grewal summed it up for the *Times*: "We now have the most pro-crypto Congress in history." [[Coinbase]] itself was Fairshake's largest single funder, at more than $75 million in the 2024 cycle. The post matters because it states intent. The industry's public framing was defensive — protecting innovation from a hostile SEC. Choi's framing was offensive: the $135 million was a first installment. By January 2026 Fairshake reported $193M cash on hand for the midterms, and its affiliate Defend American Jobs has since made the largest crypto-industry independent expenditure in this vault ([[Defend American Jobs 12.1M Ohio Senate IE]]). She repeated the line on **January 14, 2025**, sharing a Politico Tech podcast interview with host Steven Overly — "Fun conversation with @StevenOverly @politico to talk about how we’re just getting started in DC…." Overly's own post framed it: "the industry isn’t done reshaping Washington. It’s just getting started." ## The ballroom donation: "Sure" At the Axios BFD summit on **November 18, 2025**, Choi was asked about Coinbase's donation to [[Donald Trump]]'s [[White House Ballroom Project]] — and whether it was made to maintain good relations with the White House. Her answer: "Sure." She added: "I think if you go to D.C., there's a lot of buildings that need to be updated, and so if private industry has to do that, it is what it is." That is about as plain an admission of donor-access logic as the ballroom cluster has on record: a company with business before federal regulators funds a presidential pet project and says outright that keeping on the president's good side was part of the reason. ## Leaving Delaware At the same event Choi defended Coinbase's move of its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas: "We frankly didn't want to be in a place where rules could be subverted by an activist judge." She cited the Delaware Chancery Court's rejection of [[Elon Musk]]'s $56 billion [[Tesla]] pay package, the ruling that pushed Tesla to Texas first. It is the same move as the election spending, at the level of corporate law: pick the venue whose rules you like better. ## Why she matters to the KB - **The executive who said it out loud.** Armstrong's public statements kept to "vote anti-crypto politicians out." Choi tied the 2024 spending to a longer campaign ("just getting started") and tied the ballroom donation to keeping good relations with the White House. - **The operator, not the founder.** She runs the business that produces the cash Coinbase's politics depends on. Coverage focused on Armstrong tends to miss her. - **A clean case of [[Regulatory Capture]] through elections.** Spend, win, and watch enforcement go away: the SEC dropped its lawsuit against Coinbase in February 2025. ## See Also - [[Emilie Choi - We're just getting started]] — the quote receipt - [[Coinbase]] - [[Brian Armstrong]] - [[Fairshake PAC]] - [[Stand With Crypto]] - [[Crypto-Political Machine]] - [[Crypto Super PACs]] - [[White House Ballroom Project]] - [[Bernie Moreno]] · [[Sherrod Brown]] · [[Katie Porter]] - [[Trump Crypto Ventures]]