Global cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is bullish about its India plans despite the uncertainties around regulations. Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong announced that the company is building out an “amazing team “ in India.
Sharing its ambitious plan, the US-based crypto major said that there has never been a more exciting time in India, even as the country is witnessing a boom in crypto-native talent and projects such as Polygon and Instadapp.
In a blog post recently, Coinbase’s VP of Engineering and Site lead for India Pankaj Gupta, said that the company has stepped up its hiring activities.
“It is early days for our India tech hub, but it has already taken off with an incredible amount of interest in our open roles from across India. We have ambitious plans for this hub soon — we want to hire hundreds of world-class engineers in the near term.”
While the JDs talk about Coinbase’s remote-first strategy to find the best talent, it also has introduced a program called CIkka — short for “Coinbase India Sikka,” offering each new employee in India a one-time $1000 in crypto when they start.
He further added that “We’re looking for builders who want to create products that will drive the global crypto economy forward. We have built a culture of sustained innovation in the company, exemplified by Project 10%, where we dedicate 10% of our resources to supporting big product bets.”
Gupta, who joined Coinbase in April this year after a long stint at Internet giant Google, further added the company is also exploring acquiring a few startups to fuel its expansion plans.
Not only Coinbase, U.S.-based Kraken, Hong Kong-based Bitfinex, and rival KuCoin are also actively looking to expand their operations in the Indian market, as per a report by Reuters.
These companies are looking to enter India when the Central government is still unsure about the fate of cryptos in India. Sources in the government said that New Delhi might consider putting some curbs soon. However, they ruled out any potential ban.
Binance was the world’s largest to have entered the Indian market by acquiring P2P crypto exchange WazirX in 2019.
