Coinbase appoints Rob Witoff as chief technology officer

Coinbase has appointed longtime engineer Rob Witoff as chief technology officer, elevating a former early employee as the U.S. crypto exchange pushes further into AI-assisted software development. Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said Witoff played a major role in Coinbase’s growth and in making it “one of the most AI-enabled companies in the world,” while Coinbase’s leadership page now lists him as CTO. Witoff first joined Coinbase in 2014 and worked there until 2017, when the company said he led security and infrastructure, became chief architect and helped build some of its earliest systems. He later founded institutional crypto custody company Unit 410, which Coinbase acquired, and returned in December 2024 as head of platform and a member of the executive team. Witoff said his latest “tour of duty” began with a goal of making Coinbase “the best place in the world to build.” The promotion comes as Coinbase reorganizes around AI-driven workflows. In May, the company said it would cut about 14% of its workforce, or roughly 700 roles, flatten management and build smaller teams around AI tools. Coinbase later said nearly all newly merged code had become AI-generated and human-reviewed, with its July engineering report showing that share rising from 5.7% in the first quarter of 2025 to roughly 100% by mid-2026 while maintaining human review and compliance controls. Witoff steps into the role as Coinbase expands into derivatives, stablecoin payments, prediction markets and services for AI agents, areas that increase demands on infrastructure, security and incident response. The company experienced a roughly 50-minute disruption on July 14 after a routine configuration update affected a shared production cluster, interrupting transfers, card payments and some onchain services. Coinbase said customer funds were not at risk and later introduced new deployment safeguards and recovery procedures. The appointment also follows another executive transition: Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said he would leave on July 31, with Molly Abraham expected to become general counsel and corporate secretary while Grewal remains an adviser through October.