Coinbase Prefers Expansion In These Countries, But Why Now?

Crypto exchange Coinbase plans to further expand into Europe after laying off numerous employees and rescinding job offers. The San Francisco, California-based crypto exchange’s vice president Nana Murugesan revealed plans to register in countries including Italy, Spain, France, and the Netherlands.

Coinbase is already a registered crypto exchange in the UK, Ireland, and Germany. Moreover, the company has even hired its first employee in Switzerland.

Coinbase Plans Aggressive Expansion in Europe

Nana Murugesan, vice president of business development and international at Coinbase, in an interview on June 30 said the company is currently seeking expansion into the European market. Moreover, the company is even open to acquisitions in the region as valuations fall amid the crypto crisis.

“In all these markets our intention is to have retail and institutional products. It’s almost like an existential priority for us to make sure that we are able to realize our mission by accelerating our expansion efforts.”

He believes this is the best time to expand into other regions as many crypto-focused firms face cash crunch and insolvency risks. The crypto market crash has wiped out almost $2 trillion from the total market cap. Currently, the market cap has fallen below $900 billion as the liquidity crisis pushed Three Arrows Capital and Celsius on the brink of bankruptcy.

While the global technology industry faces job cuts, Coinbase has not been spared from it. The crisis caused the company to cut nearly 18% of its global staff in June, which also impacted employees in the UK and Ireland.

On June 27, investment bank Goldman Sachs downgraded Coinbase ratings to “sell” predicting a fall in revenue in the second half of this year. The stock price is trading at $49.75, down 36% in a month.

Coinbase’s Expansion Strategy

Coinbase has a history of pushing expansion in difficult market conditions. In fact, the last European push in 2015 also came during a difficult time for the crypto market. Coinbase wants to catch up with rivals like Binance, FTX, and Crypto.com as these have already expanded into several regions.

Murugesan believes the ultimate goal for the company is to dominate globally, and the international segment helps dominate its business.

“It should be significant — majority probably — of our business. This is what our goal would be, but exactly when do we get there, all of that, there’s a lot of dependencies.”