People in Bitcoin: Balaji Srinivasan

Balaji Srinivasan is an award-winning angel investor and entrepreneur with over 40 companies under his name, some of which are cryptocurrency-related. One of the most notable companies that he co-founded was Earn.com, which was later acquired by Coinbase. 

Kristyuhorton, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

In his professional life, Balaji has worked with companies such as Andreessen Horowitz where he was a general partner, and at Coinbase where he was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). His education background (BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, and an MS in Chem Eng. from Stanford) saw him starting off as a co-founder of a genetic testing company known as Counsyl. This company provided screening for Mendelian diseases, especially to prospective parents. Counsyl was later acquired by Myriad Genetics for $375 million. 

After that, he went on to set up Teleport, a search engine for digital nomads which was later acquired by Topia, and, 21.co, a Bitcoin mining business, which after it didn’t take off as planned, morphed into Earn.com. 

Other than being an entrepreneur, Balaji regularly shares his opinion and knowledge on Bitcoin and how cryptocurrencies are changing the world. He has a personal website where he writes about the cryptocurrency world amongst other issues. He is also an occasional lecturer at Stanford University. 

In 2021, Balaji demonstrated the power of cryptocurrencies in making the world a better place by organising an online Twitter campaign in partnership with Vitalik Buterin and other influencers. The campaign was set up to help India – his native country – to raise money to support people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This campaign shared specific wallet addresses where cryptocurrency users across the world would be able to donate some of their ‘coins’ to the program. 

Currently, Balaji’s main work involves investing in companies around the world. 

To learn more about Balaji and follow his opinions on how Bitcoin is changing the world, follow his handles below;

Website: balajis.com

Twitter: @balajis 

LinkedIn: Balaji S