I'm a 2025 grad and I just got through the Coinbase new grad SWE loop. Posting this for other new grads because a lot of the advice out there is geared toward senior engineers.
First: the crypto knowledge question. I was stressed about this. I'm not a DeFi person. But for new grad roles, they don't actually expect you to have traded on-chain or built smart contracts. What they do expect is that you understand the basic premise of what Coinbase builds and why it's technically hard. I prepped by reading their engineering blog (there's good stuff on distributed systems, wallet architecture, compliance infra) and just understanding the surface area.
Coding rounds: Two LC-style rounds. I got a graph traversal problem and a sliding window problem. Both felt like medium difficulty. One interviewer told me they don't do hard problems for new grads intentionally. Focus your prep on mediums, especially arrays/strings, trees, and graphs. Don't neglect the sliding window pattern.
System design (lite): For new grads they give you a watered-down design question. Mine was something like: design a URL shortener. Standard stuff. They cared about talking through constraints, not getting a perfect answer. I asked clarifying questions, drew out the basic components, talked about where I'd add caching. That was enough.
Behavioral: Standard STAR format. "Tell me about a challenging team project." "A time you got feedback you disagreed with." They do care about collaboration signals here. I think they're filtering for people who won't be a nightmare to work with on a small team.
Timeline for me: recruiter screen, online assessment (two LC mediums, 90 min), then two technical rounds + one behavioral over one week. Got the offer about 10 days after the last round.
Offer was competitive for a new grad: $155k base, $175k in RSUs over 4 years, $15k signing. SF office but remote-friendly week to week.
If you're prepping with no crypto background, don't panic. Just understand the business and focus on fundamentals.