Coinbase Taps Snap’s India Head to Guide Emerging Markets Growth

Coinbase has hired Durgesh Kaushik to lead its growth in emerging markets including its newly launched crypto trading operations in India, according to a report by TechCrunch.

Kaushik, the former head of Snap in India, will take on his new role as the cryptocurrency exchange’s Senior Director for Market Expansion next Monday. He will initially be tasked with aiding the company’s launch in India but will also help it grow in the Asia Pacific region, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.

“We’re excited to confirm that Durgesh Kaushik will be joining Coinbase on May 9 as our Senior Director for Market Expansion,” Nana Murugesan, Coinbase’s VP of International, Business Development and Partnerships told TechCrunch.

Kaushik left Snap last month after helping turn the company’s operations in India around and leading its efforts to hit 100 million users by Q1 or Q2 2021—Snap currently has around 130 million daily active users in the country. Apart from Snap, Kaushik brings experience from time at Facebook (now Meta) and Dunzo. He also previously co-founded his own social-video startup.

At the time of Coinbase’s crypto trading launch in India last month, company co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong said he plans to more than triple its headcount in the country to 1,000 in 2022. Earlier this year, the company also announced plans to add 2,000 employees across Product, Engineering and Design this year—it is unclear if there is any overlap in these hiring numbers.

In an international growth roadmap that Coinbase published in February 2022, Murugesan stated that the company’s first steps would be to hire experienced regional operators, like Kaushik. Currently, Coinbase has 21 open senior management roles in its international operations division, including Country Director positions for the Philippines, Australia, Canada, Italy, France, Indonesia, Spain, Turkey and the U.K.

As Coinbase expands globally it will have to contend with a host of rivals as well as inconsistent regional and local regulations around cryptocurrencies, making local market knowledge key.

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