San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced its strategic focus on several international markets, as it seeks to expand its operations beyond the United States. In a blog post published on September 6th, Coinbase’s Vice Presidents for International Business and International Policy, Nana Murugesan and Tom Duff Gordon, highlighted the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Singapore, and Australia as their “near-term priority markets.”
The selection of these markets, according to the executives, is based on the presence of “clear rules” governing cryptocurrency activities. Coinbase aims to actively engage in obtaining necessary licenses, registering its operations, and reinforcing its presence in these countries.
In their blog post, Murugesan and Duff Gordon expressed their concerns about the regulatory environment in the United States. They noted that while many parts of the world are progressing with crypto-forward regulations, the U.S. is primarily opting for an approach of enforcing existing rules and implementing new regulations through legal channels. This stance, they believe, risks diminishing the U.S.’s influence in the global cryptocurrency space.
“We’re committed to helping modernize the global financial system and promote economic freedom and opportunity. We won’t remain passive simply because the U.S. has chosen a different regulatory path,” the executives emphasized.
Coinbase is currently facing regulatory challenges in its home country, including a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging the sale of unregistered securities and illegal operations.
The strategic expansion into these priority markets forms the second phase of Coinbase’s expansion plans, which the company has aptly named “Go Broad, Go Deep.” As part of this phase, Coinbase intends to establish partnerships with both global and local banks and payment providers to enhance its fiat onramps and ensure compliance with governance systems. The company also plans to engage with the G20, with the goal of shaping global cryptocurrency standards, and will maintain a “scorecard” to track the progress of each country’s crypto regulations.
Coinbase seems to be particularly focused on Brazil in its G20 lobbying efforts, as the country is set to assume the G20 chairmanship in 2024. Earlier this year, Coinbase expanded its presence in Brazil, and the blog post indicates that CEO Brian Armstrong will visit the country later in the year to engage with key decision-makers and stakeholders.
In an interesting move, the blog post also suggests the option for readers to collect the article as an NFT (non-fungible token) to preserve this moment in cryptocurrency history and show support for independent journalism in the crypto sector.
