Coinbase Chief Legal Officer's total compensation exceeded $8.2 million last year

On May 20th, according to Bloomberg, Coinbase Global Inc. and Robinhood Markets Inc., the two largest US listed fintech companies, offered generous compensation packages to their Chief Legal Officers in 2024. The salary figures of these legal department leaders have recently been disclosed through securities documents, at a time when the Trump administration may push for changes to executive compensation disclosure rules. Paul Grewal has been serving as Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since 2020, responsible for leading the company's response to the $400 million hacking incident and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) investigation into user data. According to the proxy statement, Grewal's total compensation last year exceeded $8.2 million, including $730000 in base salary and $7.5 million in stock awards. A Coinbase spokesperson stated that Grewal's base salary remained unchanged last year, but its total compensation increased - $5.2 million in 2023 and $7.5 million in 2022- due to "an increase in fair value on the grant date of its equity awards. Robinhood disclosed in a proxy statement that Daniel Gallagher's total salary exceeded $8.6 million last year. Gallagher has been leading the company's legal, compliance, and corporate affairs teams since 2020 and previously served as an SEC commissioner. He recently withdrew his application to run for SEC chairman.