Nana Murugesan, VP, International and Business Development at Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), says that the digital asset firm will be adopting “a go broad and go deep approach” in order to scale operations internationally so that they can further their mission of bringing more “economic freedom” to individuals and businesses.
Leadership roles are currently open at Coinbase across the globe to build their international presence. The firm aims to launch foundational products that are “a gateway to Web3 and crypto in every country*
The firm also aims to launch localized infrastructure and public facing products with “a full suite of services.”
Nana Murugesan noted that he joined Coinbase around a month ago “to lead business development and international operations teams to further our mission, strategy, and culture around the world.”
Nana Murugesan has shared their international strategy, how they are thinking about building their international operations, and “the exciting leadership roles [they] just opened up around the world for those interested to join [them.]”
Murugesan added:
“By its very nature, crypto is global and decentralized, and as stated in our blog yesterday, we have an ambitious mission to increase economic freedom in the world that will rely on our ability to bring our products to customers globally. Crypto can have a seismic impact in driving toward a more equitable global economy.”
Murugesan also mentioned:
“This is for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to, the fact that in new high growth markets, the barriers to entry into the traditional financial system may be beyond the reach of many citizens. For instance, traditional financial systems may require official identification or a credit history to access financial services and the security it provides. In larger, more diversified economies, we take these things for granted, but in many parts of the world, they’re unavailable to a majority of the population.”
He added that there are billions of people around the world who are underbanked or unbanked. According to the World Bank’s Global Financial Inclusion database, 1.7 billion adults “are unbanked, and while the number of underbanked is harder to identify, it’s an issue that impacts almost every country.”
He also shared that “yet two-thirds of those identified as unbanked own a mobile phone that could help them access financial services.” He pointed out that these numbers are “even worse for women, who are roughly 10 percent less likely than men to have access to financial services.”
He also mentioned:
“Where women are not financially empowered, the trend lines are also more profoundly negative, correlated to a less established civil society and the seeds of undemocratic norms. These are precisely the types of challenges that crypto is uniquely equipped to solve.”
He added:
“Economic freedom is unevenly distributed around the world. Crypto enables economic freedom. At Coinbase, we believe everyone deserves access to financial services that can empower them to create a better life for themselves and their families, regardless of their location, gender or socioeconomic status.”
He acknowledged that going global is complicated and this is “compounded by rapidly evolving regulatory international frameworks for crypto.”
Coinbase’s approach globally will be consistent with their overall approach in the US: they will work with governments and regulators in different markets, and will “always aim to be the most trusted and compliant crypto company in any market.”
As their co-founder & CEO Brian Armstrong has said:
“Clear rules of the road allow for technological innovation and investment and give the public and policy makers confidence that these markets are fair.” That is why, in Brian’s words, “we see [regulation] as a business enabler.”
The firm’s management confirmed that the will “take that perspective in [their] global expansion.”
The company added that “a key first step of [their] strategy is to hire experienced regional and country leaders across the globe.” They are “now kicking off an extensive global expansion strategy, with hiring and investment plans to enter these markets which will ultimately allow Coinbase to serve customers more locally:”
As confirmed in a separate update, Coinbase noted that they have “an ambitious mission to increase economic freedom in the world.”
If they are going to execute against the opportunity in front of them, they are “going to need more help to scale their existing products, and build new ones.”
In 2022, they plan to “add up to 2,000 employees across our Product, Engineering, and Design teams.”