Bitcoin industry powerhouse Coinbase has long been a staple of America’s and Europe’s crypto ecosystems. However, the company is turning to Asia a little more than six months after making a big push to become the go-to trading platform for Wall Street when it comes to all things related to digital currencies.
Coinbase, a major fiat-to-crypto exchange, is making a foray into the Asian market by offering its products to institutional investors. High-volume clients across Asia will now have access to Coinbase’s flagship trading platforms for institutions Kayvon Pirestani, the head of Coinbase’s institutional efforts in Asia, claimed that the continent is super important for the crypto ecosystem, likely touching on the historical hegemony that innovators in the region established.
“It’s home to some of the most active retail traders in the world as well as a lot of institutional investors,” said Pirestani.
According to Pirestani, their custodian service will help protect clients from future hacks in which Japanese exchanges, for instance, are known to suffer from major security breaches e.g. Mt Gox.
The institutional push came after the best-known bitcoin exchange in the U.S. helped bring Bitcoin to the masses. The subsequent Bitcoin price collapse and fading general investor interest has triggered speculation Coinbase is rethinking its tactics to focus more on clients such as hedge funds rather than a wide range of Wall Street businesses.
“I would argue that the Asia customer base is already moving the needle for the firm. One of our top five clients by revenue is in the Asian region,” Pirestani added.
Along with the launch of their trading platforms, they’re also offering Coinbase Custody to approved high-volume clients in Asia. Coinbase Custody is an institutional-grade service optimized for storing large amounts of cryptocurrency in a secure way. All assets are stored offline and protected by industry-leading security insurance.
Get the latest in Asian Bitcoin news here at Coin News Asia.
