Coinbase's New NYC Office to Hire 100 in Wall Street Crypto Push

The crypto industry unicorn Coinbase has aggressive growth plans for its newly opened New York office, which caters to institutional clients.

"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.

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.

To make corporate clients comfortable when they visit, the office has a security staff comparable to the NYSE's, according to Coinbase's head of institutional sales, Christine Sandler, who previously worked at the Big Board.

Sandler said Coinbase's institutional custody, asset management, and trading services shouldn't be seen as conflicting with its previous focus on retail investors.

Stepping back, Coinbase as a company has been on a hiring spree all through the 2018 bear market, and now has more than 500 employees worldwide.

New York isn't the only new office attracting institutional clients and recruits.

Coinbase is looking to "Light up more countries and more fiat rails" with an eye on expansion in Asia and Latin America "Pretty quickly," White said.

Coinbase already started establishing an office in Tokyo this summer, hiring a small team and applying for a Financial Services Agency certification in Japan.