Coinbase Hires Former Snap India Head Durgesh Kaushik to Lead Market Expansion Plans

Coinbase has roped in the former head of Snap India, Durgesh Kaushik as Senior Director for Market Expansion, in a bid to help the global cryptocurrency exchange expand its reach in emerging markets, including India — a market that the company announced its official entry into a few weeks back. Kaushik, who will begin work at Coinbase on May 9, will help scale the crypto firm's operations in India and will also oversee the company's entry into other regions such as Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Americas.

The latest managerial appointment comes amid Coinbase's plans to enter Southeast Asia by forming local teams in Indonesia. Both companies are searching for country leads to start their expansions into Southeast Asia's largest market.

Kaushik joins Coinbase from Snap having led the platform's strong business turnaround in India and after having worked at a host of notable firms that include social media giant Facebook and hyperlocal delivery platform Dunzo.

“We're excited to confirm that Durgesh Kaushik will be joining Coinbase on May 9 as our Senior Director for Market Expansion,” said Nana Murugesan, VP of International, Business Development and Partnerships at Coinbase, in a statement provided to TechCrunch by a company spokesperson.

Murugesan added, “[Kaushik's] appointment to this global leadership role is an important step toward our entry in India, as well as our mission to increase economic freedom around the world. Beyond his initial focus on our India launch, Durgesh will draw from his extensive experience to also support our entry into other markets in APAC, EMEA, and the Americas as laid out in our recent blog post on our global expansion strategy.”

Coinbase in early April announced the launch of its services in India which includes the ability to trade as many as 157 crypto assets and the ability to buy cryptocurrencies in Indian currency as well as UPI. The exchange found itself in a tight spot soon after with the National Payments Corporation of India's (NPCI) refusal to recognise its UPI-linked crypto-buying feature, forcing Coinbase to suspend support for UPI payments within days.