Robinhood, Coinbase Legal Chiefs Pace Pack of Fintech’s Top Paid

Coinbase Global Inc. and Robinhood Markets Inc., two of the largest publicly traded financial technology companies, rewarded their top lawyers with lucrative pay packages in 2024.

Remuneration figures for those law department leaders were revealed in recent securities filings and come amid a potential push by the Trump administration to rewrite the rules for executive compensation disclosures.

Paul Grewal has been Coinbase’s chief legal officer and corporate secretary since 2020, key roles at a company coping with a $400 million hack and a user metrics probe by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Grewal earned more than $8.2 million in total compensation last year, a sum that includes $730,000 base salary and $7.5 million in stock awards, according to a proxy filing.

A Coinbase spokesman said Grewal’s base salary remained unchanged last year, but his total compensation rose—up from $5.2 million in 2023 and $7.5 million in 2022—due to “an increase in the grant date fair value of his equity awards.”

Robinhood disclosed in a proxy statement that Daniel Gallagher received more than $8.6 million in total compensation. Gallagher, who recently withdrew his name from consideration to head the SEC, has led the company’s legal, compliance, and corporate affairs teams since 2020. Gallagher was an SEC commissioner prior to joining Robinhood.

Gallagher’s compensation last year—$7.3 million in stock awards and $1.3 million in cash, including a $550,000 base salary—was down from his pay packages in 2023 and 2022, which were respectively valued at $10.7 million and $15.1 million. The SEC requires that long-term equity awards be disclosed in the year they’re awarded to C-suite executives, not in which they vest.

“The summary compensation table rules—as amended by the SEC in 2010—require reporting of awards granted in a given year, not necessarily what’s earned in that year,” Gallagher said in a statement. “In fact, the awards may be earned over several years into the future. Whether that’s the right policy for public company investor transparency I leave to the current SEC to decide.”

Legal Group Changes

Gallagher owns $49.3 million in Robinhood stock, while Grewal’s shares in Coinbase are valued at almost $22 million, according to Bloomberg data. Gallagher’s sold more than $27.8 million in Robinhood stock since the beginning of 2024. Grewal sold nearly $58.8 million in Coinbase shares during that period.

Both companies made important changes to their legal teams in the past year.

Robinhood saw several lawyers leave its ranks, including cryptocurrency-focused general counsel Nicole Trudeau, who became the top lawyer for investment advisory outfit Wave Digital Assets LLC, as well as former deputy general counsel and corporate secretary Christina Lai. Robinhood said deputy general counsel for regulatory and product John Markle now oversees its crypto legal team.

The company also confirmed that deputy general counsel Lucas Moskowitz, a former colleague of Gallagher’s in public service and private practice at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, was elevated last year to general counsel and corporate secretary, taking on some of Lai’s duties. Anthony Cavallaro, hired by Robinhood in 2021, now oversees brokerage compliance as its chief compliance officer. He moves into a role previously held by Kelly Zigaitis, who left Robinhood last year to become head of compliance for emerging businesses at Block Inc.

Coinbase announced this month its appointment of a new compliance chief in Joseph Salama, a longtime former lawyer at Deutsche Bank AG who has taken over a job vacated by Melissa Strait. Coinbase, which Grewal said earlier this year has racked up millions in legal bills fighting various regulatory actions, also disclosed what it paid to two notable lawyers who joined its board.

Paul Clement, a litigator named a Coinbase director a year ago, received roughly $856,700 in total compensation. Christopher Lehane, an attorney and political strategist who also joined Coinbase’s board, earned a little over $839,000.

More Fintech Legal Leaders

Coinbase and Robinhood have kept their top lawyers among their highest-paid executive officers since both companies went public in 2021. Stock awards are also bolstering the pay packages of other fintech lawyers. Heath Tarbert, a former head of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission who now leads legal and corporate affairs at Circle Internet Group Inc., has received almost $30 million in total compensation since joining the stablecoin issuer in 2023.

Circle disclosed Tarbert’s pay in securities filings related to an upcoming initial public offering. Chime Financial Inc., a no-fee banking startup also looking to go public this year, revealed this month that its general counsel Adam Frankel earned almost $3.5 million in 2024. Frankel, a longtime legal chief at investment bank Evercore Inc., which he helped take public two decades ago, joined Chime in 2023 as a successor to the company’s first legal leader Katherine Karas.

SoFi Technologies Inc. disclosed in a proxy filing last month that it awarded $8.3 million to its new general counsel Stephen Simcock, who joined the fintech company from JPMorgan Chase & Co. Simcock’s compensation was mostly comprised of $7.7 million in stock awards. Affirm Holdings Inc., a fintech financier, paid almost $4.6 million to legal and compliance chief Katherine Adkins in 2024. Adam Rosman, the top lawyer at fintech services provider Fiserv Inc., received a $4.1 million pay package.

Other fintech leaders such as Block and PayPal Holdings Inc. didn’t disclose what their legal chiefs earned in 2024. Securities filings show that Block’s top lawyer Chrysty Esperanza sold over $3.7 million in company shares in the past year.

Block, which owns companies like Square and Cash App, confirmed it hired former Google LLC and Airbnb Inc. in-house lawyer Paul Nikhinson to be its chief privacy officer last month after naming Tyler Hand its compliance chief in February. Hand had led compliance at Cash App. Paul Twarog, another former Google lawyer, joined Block last year as Square’s general counsel.