Coinbase’s Vice President of International and Business Development, said that the exchange faces “tough questions” about its services from policymakers and regulators. Coinbase, an American cryptocurrency exchange, will be expanding its services in Australia.
Coinbase will launch a local entity as well as an updated suite for retail crypto traders. This suggests that institutional products may soon follow.
Nana Murugesan is Coinbase’s Vice President of International and Business Development. He said that building in bear markets has “paid big time during this bull run” as he’s optimistic about the local market.
Murugesan describes the “baseline signals”, such as the awareness of crypto in Australia and the people who see it as the future.
“Australia punches way above its weight in APAC, certainly at global level. From a revenue contribution perspective, I feel pretty good about the future.”
Murugesan describes how it began with building a localized network, including Coinbase Australia Pty Ltd., and then registering to offer digital currency exchange services through the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, the country’s financial intelligence agent.
Murugesan states, “We’ve been impressed by the open door that was received in Canberra and other policymakers,” adding that the exchange has faced “tough questions” about its platform and token listing.
“Given the token-mapping exercise that’s taking place, there are many technical questions that we are receiving from the Treasury and other departments deep technical queries is another thing we are seeing in Australia at an even deeper level than other countries.”
Coinbase provides Australian crypto traders with “fast payments” to their local banks, access to its advanced trading platform, and chat support 24 hours a day.
Murugesan said that this “opens up the door” to the company’s full range of development and institutional products.
Although Murugesan didn’t give a timeline for when products would be available, he said he knew Australian institutions would want to “do all things locally”. He also stated that Coinbase will “very much focus on institutions” over the next few months.
Murugesan says that the exchange will collaborate with RMIT University’s Blockchain Innovation Hub in order to evaluate Web3 opportunities in the country. Murugesan also states that it is working with University of New South Wales (UNSW), and other institutions to develop related courses and support research programs.
Murugesan said that Coinbase is looking to expand into Asia as regulation will be a business enabler, as resources are scarce, particularly during bear markets.
It’s possible that it will be more focused on markets with clarity or going towards clarity, given the existence of unclear crypto policy in some countries within the region.
He spoke of the high level of interest G20 countries have in crypto, and how blockchain technology and digital currencies fit into finance’s future. He expects it to be a hot topic among G20 members by next year.
“There is a lot of interest from Australian policymakers to also take a leadership role at these type of discussions.”
