The crypto industry unicorn Coinbase has aggressive growth plans for its newly opened New York office, which caters to institutional clients.
The digital asset exchange plans to expand the operation to 150 employees next year, from 20 currently. According to the company, the slump in cryptocurrency prices this year has not quelled institutional demand for this asset class.
“When we saw the market begin to correct, which we all expected, institutions didn’t lose interest,” Adam White, general manager of Coinbase Institutional, told CoinDesk. “It was exactly the opposite.”
He added:
“They look at it as an opportunity to enter when things are not too frothy.”
Many of the local staff members were hired away from traditional financial institutions such as the New York Stock Exchange, Barclays, and Citigroup.
New York “is an incredibly deep pool of talent,” White said during an event Thursday celebrating the opening of its first permanent location in the city (it previously had employees working out of a WeWork there).
“We have to create a bridge between financial services and technology,” he went on. “In order to do that, we need to pull from some of the best and brightest minds that have worked their whole careers in other kinds of traditional financial firms.”
