Coinbase Global Inc. is seeking to benefit from growing institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies by broadening its services for traditional financial firms.
As banks increasingly offer their own digital-asset services, the largest US crypto exchange is operating as the infrastructure provider to those institutions while also building up its prime offerings, Liz Martin, head of Coinbase Institutional, said in an interview in Singapore.
“We’ve seen really rapid growth” in prime brokerage, Martin said. “It’s probably one of the fastest growing areas of our business.”
Shares of Coinbase have declined more than 50% in the past year as the industry seeks to recover from the collapse in token prices after they reached record highs last October.
Other crypto firms have recently been expanding their prime brokerages — a bundling of trading, custody, financing and settlement for institutions — as traditional finance has moved into crypto. BNY Mellon, DBS Bank and U.S. Bank all offer crypto custody services, while Deutsche Bank announced plans to launch one last month.
Martin suggested there is no conflict for Coinbase given its dual role in offering trading and infrastructure services. Greater participation from traditional finance benefits both, she said.
“They’re both fueled by the same thing, which is institutional adoption of crypto and a desire to put more financial services onchain,” Martin said.
The company announced Thursday that it would custody balances of Circle Internet Group’s USDC stablecoin in Samsung Wallet through Coinbase Prime, its institutional platform. USDC will be the default dollar stablecoin for users of the Samsung Electronics payment service, with a rollout in the US expected by the end of the month, extending Coinbase’s custody service into another consumer application.
On Wednesday, it said it had completed the integration of Deribit and would soon connect its US and international crypto-derivatives markets in a single liquidity pool.
Coinbase acquired Deribit last year in an effort to close a services gap with offshore rivals such as Binance Holdings and OKX. Options will be available through Prime in the coming weeks, with US retail access planned for later this year, according to the company.
The announcements around this year’s Token2049 conference in Singapore, one of the largest crypto events in the world, illustrate Coinbase’s effort to build an “everything exchange” and attract more sophisticated traders. The launch of a rebuilt Coinbase Pro platform is planned by year-end.
Read more: CFTC Seeks White House Review on Crypto Rules After Bill Fails
The expansion comes despite a setback last month from a failed vote in the US on the Clarity Act, a crypto regulation bill the company had championed.
Days after the Senate failed to advance the bill, the SEC issued a five-year exemption allowing tokenized stocks to trade in the US. Martin said Coinbase has no launch date for such products in the US.
Asked whether the Clarity Act’s stalled progress had affected next year’s priorities, Martin said there was “no change” to the company’s plans.
Overseas expansion remains part of the strategy, with Coinbase looking to attract more professional traders outside the US.
“That’s a deep, deep group in APAC overall,” she said. “We’ve just opened our new office in Singapore, so we’re making big investments there.”