Coinbase Appoints Ex CryptoCom, Facebook Employees to Head its Units in Europe, Africa, Middle East

Coinbase, the crypto exchange headquartered in the US, is expecting to imprint on the European market. The company has hired Cormac Dinan, the ex-general manager of the CryptoCom exchange to take up the job of Coinbase’s director in Ireland. Dinan is among the total of five new hirings, that Coinbase has confirmed in order to streamline its operations in European nations. In an official blog, the crypto exchange said these hirings are part of the ‘Go Broad and Go Deep’ strategy, that has been part of its agenda since the beginning of this year.

Elke Karskens, the former director of partnerships at Facebook has been assigned the role of Coinbase’s UK unit director. While Michael Schroeder has been named the director of controls for Coinbase Germany, Patrick Elyas and Daniel Seifert have been chosen as the director and regional managing director to oversee expansion in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regions.

“Under their guidance, we plan to launch new products, grow our customer base, build our business, expand to new markets in the region, and continue to collaborate closely with our external constituents, including policymakers, regulators, financial institutions, and partners,” Coinbase noted in an official blog post, detailing plans with these new appointees.

Coinbase recently found itself in a legal issue in Germany. Earlier in November, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany (BaFIN) issued an order asking Coinbase to provide details on the business practices of its local arm. BaFin has raised an issue against Coinbase’s Germany arm outsourcing parts of its operations as ‘essential’ for conducting banking business.

It, hence, does seem surprising, that the 10-year-old company is now accelerating efforts to increase its credibility in international markets. By hiring these experienced professionals as top-level executives for the MENA region, Coinbase has reiterated its support towards working with law-enforcement agencies that aim to make the crypto sector safer for investors, under regulatory oversight.

“Responsible companies want regulation that’s sensible, protects customers and fosters innovation. We strongly feel that the EMEA region is leading the way in creating a safe and secure regulatory environment for crypto,” Coinbase’s blog noted.

The crypto sector has been grabbing tonnes of attention in the EMEA regions.

Recently, the European Union (EU), approved the MiCA legistation, that is expected to go into effect by 2024. The MiCA bill aims to prevent insider dealing, unlawful disclosure of inside information, and market manipulation related to crypto-assets.

In the UK, the Financial Services and Markets Bill that propose legal disclosures around the operations of crypto firms in the UK, is currently awaiting a parliamentary nod.

In the regions located in the African and the UAE nations, the crypto sector has witnessed substantial growths. While the UAE has established the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), an independent regulator for virtual assets, the authorities of African nations like Kenya and Nigeria are working with industry players like Binance to form a lucrative ecosystem for the digital assets industry to strive.

“We strongly feel that the EMEA region is leading the way in creating a safe and secure regulatory environment for crypto. In fact, we consider it a gold standard setter and an example of what can be achieved when the political will is there,” Coinbase added.

Affected by the market fluctuations, Coinbase witnessed several downs in terms of keeping its business healthy this year. Transaction revenues for Coinbase cascaded down by 44 percent in the third quarter of 2022.

The exchange, between July and September, only managed to churn $365.9 million (roughly Rs. 3,022 crore). The figure was almost twice — at $655.2 million (roughly Rs. 5,411 crore) in the second quarter of 2022 between April and June.

In light of the dwindling numbers, the company had to let go off several of its employees.

Earlier this month, Coinbase fired over sixty employees as a cost-cutting measure. Previously in June, the company had slashed 18 percent of its workforce leaving over 1,000 employees jobless.

In a bid to bring back business to its platform, Coinbase has been focussing on international expansion.

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase had arrived in India earlier this year, to offer jobs to Indian developers. The company had also unveiled a new feature to allow Indians to purchase crypto via UPI on its platform, but had to roll-back the offering after Indian authorities said they did not approve any such feature from the foreign firm.

Armstrong, at the time, had blamed the RBI for exerting an informal pressure on crypto companies, hindering the growth of crypto in India.

---