Coinbase decides to establish its main EU operational hub in Ireland

In the future, Coinbase will run its crypto services across all the EU member countries by sitting in Ireland but for now waiting for regulatory approval.

Coinbase is a US-based Nasdaq-listed public firm which has traded under the index COIN since 2021. This crypto firm is known for its high compliance crypto services & this is the reason why Coinbase is first choice among individual & institutional investors to invest in crypto assets. Coinbase has been in legal hurdles since 6 June 2023, as the American top financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued this crypto exchange. 

On 19 Oct 2023, Nana Murugesan, Coinbase’s vice president of international, appeared in an interview with CNBC and said that the company fully focused on establishing a central crypto operational hub in Ireland to provide crypto services across the EU’s 27 members. 

Currently, Coinbase exchange has an electronic money institution license and virtual asset service provider registration in Ireland; a crypto license in Germany; and national registrations in other EU member states including Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain.

But under the latest efforts, this exchange is in range to secure a Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) license to provide crypto services. If the Coinbase team succeeds in securing Mica’s license then it will unlock a path for Coinbase to provide services across all EU member countries without any requirement for licenses in individual countries. In short, this crypto company will be free from high-class legal hurdles to obtain licenses & regulatory approvals in each country and in that situation it will be able to focus on the customer experience enhancement.

Coinbase has chosen Ireland as its main operational and regulatory hub in the European Union, the company told CNBC. If and when it is approved, Coinbase will have a universal “MiCA license” in Ireland, which it can then use to “passport” its services into Germany, France, Italy,…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 19, 2023

Before the passing of the MiCA law, the Coinbase team was engaged to establish a crypto operational hub & secure a licence in the EU and the Coinbase vice president believes that the Exchange will score a win in this plan. 

Notably, the Coinbase exchange showed significant Inclination toward non-US jurisdiction, after Q2 2023. The change in the behaviour of this exchange occurred because of the hostile regulatory environment in the US for this innovation sector, where many crypto companies faced enforcement actions for violating nothing.

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