Coinbase plans for Brexit with Irish expansion
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will today unveil the first stage of its Brexit contingency plans, opening up a secondary office in Dublin while preserving the heart of its operations in London.
The new office, which will primarily house mostly support staff, is intended to act as the company’s European base as the UK prepares to exit from the European Union.
“There’s a few factors that went into this process and one of them, in addition to sustaining growth, was how we think about Brexit and all the possible outcomes,” Coinbase’s UK chief executive Zeeshan Feroz told CityAM.
“We want to continue to offer our services to European customers beyond Brexit, and at this stage it was important to ensure we plan for all outcomes.”
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In time, the Dublin office will be used as an access point to the swathes of tech talent living in the city and on the continent, thanks to the presence of major players such as Google and Facebook. However Feroz was keen to stress that London remained “the strongest place to be in Europe” for Coinbase as its headquarters, and as a destination for premier skilled workers in financial services.
The business has grown exponentially in the UK as crypto filtered into the mainstream, exemplified by having to take up additional office space three times in 2018 alone.
Feroz added that Brexit also isn’t all bad news for the UK: “I think as we break away from supervision in the EU, what it does create is an opportunity for the UK to explore and regulate the sector independently.”
“[There’s] an opportunity here to build an environment that is conducive to crypto businesses. That may or may not lead to divergence, but it does create an opportunity.”