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Coinbase, the second largest crypto exchange in the world, has received its digital asset license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority, Bermuda Premier David Burt tweeted Wednesday night. Coinbase will open an offshore derivatives exchange there “as early as next week”, according to a person close to the company, Fortune reported.
This is the latest expansion of the behemoth exchange to grow internationally and expand its footprint, Coinbase shared in a series of tweet.
In addition to the Bahamas, Coinbase has expanded in Abu Dhabi, Canada, Brazil, and Singapore. It’s more than halfway through its eight-week international expansion drive, the company said in a statement.
“As we’ve said before, our global approach will be consistent with our approach in the United States,” the company said.
These growth efforts point to the company’s attempt to expand its international operations amid US regulators cracking down on the crypto industry.
Last month, Coinbase received a Wells Notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to a Coinbase SEC filing, government agency staff “informed the company that it has made a ‘preliminary decision’ to recommend that the SEC file an enforcement action against the company for alleged violations of the federal securities law.”
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has been an outspoken advocate for crypto regulation guidelines, but he has criticized US regulators for regulating through enforcement.
“Regulators have to make the rules, tell everyone the rules and we follow them,” Armstrong said during a Twitter Spaces in March. “The current laws are not clear and we would like more clarity.”
This week in web3
While the SEC is suing Bittrex, there is little evidence that it is relaxing its regulatory stance
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that it is charging Bittrex, a crypto exchange, among other fees “for operating an unregistered national stock exchange, broker and clearing house.” In recent weeks, we have seen the SEC take on Coinbase and Tron, not to mention Binance was fired by another US government agency (the CFTC). Suffice it to say that after falling behind the growth of the crypto market, government regulators are now stepping up.
Despite regulatory concerns, the US is far from losing the corporate crown (TC+)
Coinbase is open to leaving the United States in the wake of a regulatory dispute with the government. A shift in tone of that magnitude could affect where the future of technology is built and the opportunities of the global venture market ahead. But the Coinbase news does not exist in a vacuum.
Digital identities are perhaps the best way to prove who you are online (TC+)
One of the biggest drivers for digital identity is being able to verify who you are and that what you say is real amid the extreme (and somewhat terrifying) growth of artificial intelligence technology. While there is a lot of hype around owning your own digital identity, a lot of growth is needed to expand the industry and keep people safe.
So you want financing for your NFT project? (TC+)
The NFT market may be down from its 2021 peak, but founders, builders, and collectors are still pouring into the space. And many are looking for fresh capital. While NFTs are part of the web3 world, traditional business mechanisms are inevitable for founders in the post-boom market.
Decentralized finance may be the answer to the problem of banking payment rails (TC+)
Outdated payment rails are not a new problem for US banking infrastructure, but the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has thrown it into the spotlight, especially for payment companies that had their payment rails at the bank. Some fintech founders say decentralized financial rails built on the blockchain could be a better answer.
The latest pod
For this week’s episode, Jaquelyn interviewed Jesse Pollak, the leader for Base and head of protocols at Coinbase. Base is an Ethereum-focused layer 2 blockchain launched by Coinbase in February this year.
Pollak previously led all retail engineering at Coinbase, including building Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Wallet. In a past life, Pollak started Clef, a 2FA mobile app and was an engineer at BuzzFeed.
A number of crypto companies, platforms, marketplaces, and infrastructure companies have committed to building on Base. Those planning to join include Blockdaemon, Chainlink, Etherscan, Quicknode, Aave, Animoca Brands, Dune, Nansen, Magic Eden, Pyth, Rainbow Wallet, Ribbon Finance, The Graph, Wormhole, and Gelato, just to name a few to name a few.
Of course, we’ve talked a lot about Base and where it’s going in the future, as well as how regulation could affect the blockchain and the timeline for the Mainnet launch; Pollak shared his ambition for 2023.
We also dove into:
- Decentralizing base
- Developers growing internationally
- Coinbase’s role in Base
- Advice for developers
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Follow the money
- Bitcoin financial services company Unchained Capital raised $60 million in a Series B
- Karate Combat has raised $18 million for crypto mixed martial arts
- Open source blockchain platform EOS Network Foundation has raised $45 million
- Yoz Labs raised $3.5 million to build out web3 notifications
- Swaap Finance raised $4.5 million to build a DeFi protocol for market making
This list was compiled using information from Messari and MinRegion’s own reporting.
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