Longtime Goldman Sachs executive joins crypto exchange giant Coinbase

Goldman Sachs veteran Roger Bartlett is the latest to exit Wall Street in favor of a move to the crypto space by joining Coinbase.

Bartlett’s 15-year tenure at Goldman Sachs saw him rise to the position of managing director and global co-head of operations for global markets.

Bartlett joins the crypto exchange as vice president and global head of financial operations. Writing on his LinkedIn page on Friday, Bartlett described “the mission to create economic freedom” as a “once in a lifetime opportunity,” hence his decision to join Coinbase.

The US crypto exchange giant has steadily grown its workforce over the last year. This aggressive hiring spree saw the company’s employee base triple between 2020 and 2021, ending the year with 3,730 staff members.

Some of these new employees have been high-profile hires from the traditional finance (“tradfi”) space. Earlier in the year, the exchange tapped a former US Securities and Exchange (SEC) counsel to lead its public policy division.

According to its Q4 2021 earnings report issued on Thursday, Coinbase still has plans to add more workers to its payroll with a target of reaching 6,000 employees by the end of this year.