Instead, a Coinbase spokesperson told Decrypt in an email that the company is accelerating work on its “Go Broad, Go Deep” strategy unveiled earlier this month, which includes increasing its presence on every continent except Antarctica.
“Our international expansion efforts will focus on high-level regulatory jurisdictions,” the spokesperson said Decrypt in an email. “We remain focused on offering our products in a safe, compliant manner, with sound risk management at the heart.”
As an example, the spokesman referred to a notice on Twitter earlier this week that Coinbase is offering free bank transfers and Singpass integration, a digital identity system used by 4.5 million residents, to customers in Singapore.
If Coinbase, currently the largest US-based crypto exchange, establishes more overseas operations, it would more directly compete with Binance, which sees about 10 times more volume than Coinbase per day. The company, which saw $2.3 billion in volume over the past 24 hours, would also be in direct competition with a handful of similar rivals, such as Seychelles-based OKX and Cayman Islands-based Gate.io.
Coinbase, which trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker COIN, was slated to go public in 2021. And while it’s only rumored, investors seem to like the idea of the exchange focusing on international growth. Its shares were trading at $76.31 an hour before markets closed on Friday, up 13% from the previous day.
The San Francisco-based company has been talking about its ambitions to spur global growth for a while.
During Coinbase’s Q4 2022 earnings call in February, CEO Brian Armstrong alluded to increased regulatory scrutiny following the collapse of a former competitor, Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX.
“But let me be very clear, I think this is a good thing for the space and that it will ultimately benefit Coinbase,” he said. It’s really easy to look at the headlines and assume that increased regulatory activity is bad for crypto, but I really don’t agree.”
That doesn’t mean he’s content to wait and see how regulation shakes out in the states.
“Outside the US, almost every major financial hub is competing to be the leader in Web3,” Armstrong said later on the call.
On the latest episode of Decrypt’s gm podcast, Coinbase General Counsel Paul Grewal expressed disappointment with the way regulators, particularly the SEC, have approached enforcement.
“It’s still not too late. You know, the train hasn’t quite left the station,” Grewal said. for crypto — has been doubling or tripling, as we just discussed, on subpoenas, on Wells announcements and on enforcement actions.”
Earlier this month Grewal testified before the US House Committee on Financial Services to argue how regulatory clarity would benefit consumers and the industry – echoing a petition the company filed with the SEC in July.