Interview with John, Managing Director of Coinbase APAC:Prioritizing international growth and why Singapore is so important
This transcript captures an interview between Colin and John O’Loghlen, Regional Managing Director of Coinbase in APAC, held at the Token 2049 conference in Singapore. The discussion covered John’s background, Coinbase’s international expansion, and insights into the future of crypto in the APAC region and China.
This audio transcription was done by GPT, so there may be errors. Please listen to the full podcast:
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Introduction and Background
Colin:
Hi John, welcome to Singapore! My first question is, could you introduce yourself, share a bit about your past experiences, and tell us why you decided to join Coinbase?
John:
Yeah, hey Colin. Hi everyone. Colin is an old friend from Hong Kong. So let me start.
I’ve got a bit of an unusual background. It’s a mix of corporate and operational experience, which is actually quite common at Coinbase. I’m from New Zealand, studied in the U.S., did some traveling and played sports before ending up in London in 2000 — just before the dot-com crash. That was during Web 1.0, probably before most of your listeners were even born! I worked at Goldman Sachs in the telecom, media, and technology (TMT) investment banking division. We worked with some of the biggest mobile companies at the time — Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola — names that have faded now. Back then, the big players were Yahoo and Netscape, so it was a very different world. I got to live through that Web 1.0 era.
After five years between London and New York, I moved to Beijing and continued with Goldman Sachs, working in their joint venture in China, Gaohar Securities, in 2005 and 2006. There weren’t many opportunities for non-Chinese bankers in China at the time, but I decided to stay. You might know or have heard of Fangfang Lei, the chairman of Gaohar Securities, a very successful Chinese banker. I wanted to get involved in a more hands-on industry, and after talking to a lot of people, I somehow ended up in the pizza business. I worked for major American brands like Domino’s, particularly in their franchising business.
We operated franchise businesses across Asia, negotiating master franchises from Japan to Indonesia, and learned a lot about Chinese and Asian cultures, especially how big conglomerates operate in places like Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, we even tried to partner with Fairwood Group from the Fairwood Cafes.
After learning the pizza business for three years, we decided to start our own brand in Beijing. We created a gourmet pizza brand called Jiaobang Pizza (Gung Ho Pizza), which had a strong Dongbei influence. We ran the business for about ten years and had eight stores in Beijing. What’s relevant to this conversation is how this experience introduced me to the world of WeChat, Tencent, Alipay, and all the major delivery platforms like Meituan and Ele.me. China was about ten years ahead in integrating online and offline services, including group buying and food delivery.
During that time, I had a child, got married, and decided to move back to Australia where my wife grew up. We sold the business, though I still retain a stake in Domino’s China, which is listed in Hong Kong and now operates over 1,000 stores in China. After returning to Australia, I wasn’t sure what to do next, but through an introduction, I ended up working with Alibaba’s international team, particularly with Jack Ma’s assistant Maggie Joe Jolan. For six or seven years, I helped brands from Australia and New Zealand expand into China, teaching them about platforms like Tmall and how to succeed in the Chinese e-commerce market. This involved a lot of work, especially since Chinese platforms like Tmall operate very differently from Western platforms like Amazon. We also helped launch products on Lazada in Singapore and catered to Chinese students and tourists visiting Australia and New Zealand.
Our work with platforms like Alipay and WeChat Pay became a huge part of integrating Chinese tourists’ experiences with local retailers, hotels, theme parks, and airlines. If you were a user of these platforms in China, you’d land in Australia and be flooded with offers, making the journey seamless and highly convenient. This process gave me a lot of insight into Chinese product engineering and design, especially how to adapt these tools for Chinese tourists in Australia, who spend significantly more per day than their mainland counterparts.
Many of the lessons I learned during that time are now relevant at Coinbase as we internationalize the business and work to improve our trading product for users. There’s a lot to be done, but we’re making improvements like adding more language options and reducing fees, both for retail and institutional users. That’s a bit about my background. When Ant Group ran into issues with Chinese regulators, I decided to step back from China for a while. Around that time, I somehow found myself entering the world of crypto, and here I am now, working in this incredibly dynamic space.
I think the reason I joined Coinbase is its brand, reputation, and mission. The company has a bold and altruistic goal of increasing economic freedom worldwide. Having lived in many different countries and experienced the complexity of banking systems firsthand, I’ve seen how much of a hassle it is to move money around, even in advanced economies like Australia. I have team members who had families back in Taiwan or mainland China, and sending money to them before platforms like WeChat Pay was extremely difficult. Now, it’s so much easier. These platforms revolutionized the Chinese banking system, which might have caused some friction with regulators, but from a consumer standpoint, it was incredibly beneficial. In a lot of ways, what Coinbase is doing with decentralized finance mirrors those trends.
I hope that answers your question, Colin!
Coinbase’s International Expansion
Colin:
My second question is about Coinbase’s international expansion. Over the past year, we’ve seen Coinbase increase its focus on business outside of the U.S., what we now call “Coinbase International.” Could you tell us more about your role and the current situation at Coinbase International? Perhaps you could also share some relevant data?
John:
Yeah, of course, Colin. You’re spot on. I think when we last spoke about nine months ago, the international side of the business was just starting to gain momentum. Around that time, Brian Armstrong sent out an internal email making it clear that all teams should prioritize international growth.
Coinbase is an 11-year-old company, and it’s been incredibly successful in North America, where it’s a household name — kind of like Tencent in China. Coinbase has over 100 million users, and there’s a wide array of products on the platform. Now, we’re working to bring that success to global markets. However, not all of our products and services can be directly transferred to other regions due to a variety of factors, like cultural differences and regulatory requirements. So, we’re in the process of adapting and localizing our offerings for each market, which is a very dynamic, market-by-market approach.
Let me break down how we organize the business. It revolves around three major pillars: consumer, institutional, and developer. The consumer side includes the retail app that everyone uses. The institutional side serves more advanced users like hedge funds, prime brokers, institutions, wealth managers, and family offices. And finally, the developer side focuses on Web3 services, including projects like the Layer 2 solution built on Ethereum, called Base.
For most of us at Coinbase, the day-to-day work revolves around the consumer side of the business, which is the largest part of the company. It’s supported by the institutional and developer arms. Right now, we’re fully registered in 10 international markets, spanning Europe, North and South America, and Asia. And we’re looking to expand into more markets every year.
When we enter a new market, our approach is very different from the offshore exchanges you might be familiar with. We’re fully regulated in each market we operate in. That means we have AML (anti-money laundering) processes, compliance functions, and local directors who are legally responsible for managing operations. This governance framework may seem heavy, but it’s essential as the industry continues to mature and regulation becomes more stringent.
Globally, we divide our operations into three key regions: EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), the Americas, and APAC (Asia-Pacific). I’m fortunate to be the regional managing director for APAC, which covers a vast area from Japan to India. We’ve got a hub in Singapore, and large teams handling various functions in Singapore, India (focused on onboarding, payments, and customer service), and the Philippines, where we have extensive customer support operations. Because Coinbase is a remote-first company, we also have staff working across the APAC region. We have a significant number of Chinese employees spread around the world, particularly in engineering and leadership roles. That’s a brief overview of how we’re organized by geography and function.
At this year’s Token 2049 event, I think people saw a real demonstration of our commitment to the APAC region. It was the first time we sponsored the conference, and we had three people speaking on various stages, more than any other centralized exchange. We also had a prominent presence with Coinbase House and Base Cafe at the event. The activation zone for Base was right at the top of the escalators, and our institutional teams were constantly in meetings. We had a huge amount of interest and engagement, with many people signing up to Base while they were in line for their coffees! This is just one example of how we’re supporting the region.
We’ve also been working closely with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), and they’ve been instrumental in supporting our hiring initiatives. We’re adding more talent in product engineering and design because we know Singapore wants to keep that expertise in the country. Additionally, we’re rolling out an accredited investor program in Singapore, aligned with the latest regulations. In Australia, we’re also expanding our presence — sponsoring events like marathons, sweepstakes, and CryptoCon. In fact, I’m heading back to Australia on Monday to deliver a keynote at the AFR Summit, alongside other speakers like Anthony Scaramucci, who was also at Token 2049.
One final point on policy in the APAC region — many people have been closely watching the U.S. election this year, especially with the challenges Coinbase has faced with the SEC. Fortunately, we’ve been on the positive side of those challenges, but we’ve also been focusing on a bipartisan initiative called “Stand with Crypto”. This initiative aims to mobilize the over 50 million crypto users in the U.S. as a unified voting block. It’s worth noting that more Americans hold crypto than have electric vehicles or union membership cards, so it’s a significant group. Thanks to the work we’ve done, both Republicans and Democrats have started to acknowledge and support the crypto community more than in previous elections.
We see Singapore as a key wealth hub in the crypto space, similar to how it operates as a private wealth hub in traditional finance. Through our U.S. dollar rails into Singapore, we’re providing a gateway for crypto investors, and we’re really excited about the opportunities here.
APAC as a Crypto Hub
Colin:
In the APAC region, Coinbase has a strong reputation, particularly as a U.S.-listed company. It holds a great deal of respect in the U.S. as well. On the other hand, APAC has the largest population globally and a significant number of very enthusiastic retail investors, especially in countries like Korea and potentially in mainland China. My question is: in the APAC region, which countries are most important to Coinbase International in terms of users? Which country has the most users?
John:
Right now, most of our users are in Australia. To put it simply, Australia is our largest market in the region, Singapore comes in second. This user base is continuing to grow steadily. Singapore serves as a critical hub for the region, not just for Singaporeans, but also for people in neighboring countries.
We are actively exploring multiple other markets in Asia that we’re interested in. In the past, we’ve entered some markets in the region and later pulled out. However, we’re considering re-entering those markets at some point. With leadership consistently coming into the region every other week, especially at events like Token 2049, it shows just how seriously Coinbase is taking this geography.
To your point about our reputation, it’s built on our commitment to compliance and being fully regulated. While other exchanges are moving quickly into markets like Korea — for example, Bybit just partnered with Hana Bank — we’re taking a more cautious approach. Since we’re a publicly listed company, we tend to be under stricter scrutiny from regulators globally. This can sometimes feel like a burden, as we’re held to a higher standard. However, the core mission of Coinbase is economic freedom, and this guides everything we do.
Brian Armstrong has often emphasized our mission to bring a billion people on-chain. We know we’re not going to achieve that in Europe or North America — it’s going to happen in Asia, where we are now.
We’re focused on these markets, and we have significant developments and plans in place. I joined Coinbase two and a half years ago with the goal of growing the Asian market, and it’s clear that we can’t accomplish that just by being in Singapore and Australia. I’m really excited to share more about our plans in the future. We already have a number of tools and platforms to help us grow here — Base is a great example. Right now, there are meetups for Base happening almost daily across Asia.
Colin:
For Coinbase International’s exchange operations, do you aim to be compliant in every country where you operate?
John:
Yes, but we’ll choose our markets carefully. Some countries have challenging regulatory environments, and in some cases, they operate on a “pay-to-play” model. Local authorities limit the number of licenses, which then drives the price of licenses sky-high. It’s similar to the way taxi licenses work in Singapore — limited in number, so they become very expensive.
Coinbase is not the kind of company that’s going to pay large sums just to enter a market. We might enter through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) instead. Our M&A team is very active, and we recently made an acquisition in Europe on the institutional side, which gives us access to 20 countries to distribute our ETF and other products. Coinbase Ventures and M&A is another channel that could help us expand further.
In Asia, Coinbase has already made 55 venture investments, most of them in India and Singapore. There are several options, but I don’t foresee us having Coinbase offices in every ASEAN country by 2025 or 2026. That said, we will definitely have a presence in a few more large, strategic markets.
Colin:
Got it. What’s your take on Base? You’ve mentioned that it’s a critical part of Coinbase’s strategy because it helps advance economic and financial freedom, and anyone can use the Base chain. Is Base now a major part of Coinbase’s future?
John:
Absolutely, one hundred percent. If you look at recent history, last time we spoke, Base had just come out of its beta phase. At that time, if I had mentioned Base at a dinner, people probably wouldn’t have known what I was talking about — maybe some folks in Web3 would have. But now that’s completely changed. Last week, or the week before, Base hit a record with 4.5 million Layer 2 transactions in a single day. It’s become incredibly popular, not just in North America. We’re seeing significant activity globally, with some of the largest projects coming out of Asia.
It’s not confirmed, but one of the social platforms here at Token 2049 claimed that they account for around 10% of all on-chain activity on Base.
Base essentially lowers the cost and increases the speed of using Ethereum, making it more accessible and efficient in terms of gas fees. At first, there was some skepticism because Coinbase is such a large company — people questioned why we were doing this instead of one of the other protocols. But to build a successful industry, you need the biggest and smartest players in the space working on it. Brian Armstrong has always been passionate about it, and Jesse, who leads the Base team, has been working on it for a while. We’re fortunate that it’s gained the momentum and support that it has. Moving forward, we plan to decentralize Base further and separate it from Coinbase Corporate. Whether developers want access to Coinbase users is up to them, but what’s more important is that we’re offering a robust platform with great tools, documentation, and support.
On the support side, we’re bringing Base ambassadors to the Philippines and India. These are people employed by Coinbase to be in-market ambassadors. We had three Base team members at Token 2049, and we have three or four official Base ambassadors here in the office as well. We’re also planning to have Base developer relations (DevRel) staff in Singapore soon. We’re working to decentralize Base’s support through these ambassadors. For example, during Token 2049, there were six Base-related events around Singapore — most of them were hackathons, discussions, and forums, all run by third parties, not by us or the Base team. The Base team simply supports and attends these events, but the community itself has been very proactive.
We also have plans to technically decentralize Base, and we’re running R&D tests to decentralize the sequencer. The goal is to ensure that Base technology becomes independent of Coinbase’s engineering resources and intellectual property, so it can function as a fully decentralized platform.
That’s the long-term vision for Base, and we’re really excited about where it’s headed. It’s humbling to see the success it’s had so far, and we hope to keep supporting more major projects. Our Base teams have been stretched a bit thin with all the activity, but we managed to talk to a lot of people this week at Token 2049. It’s great to see so much interest and engagement.
Future of Crypto in China and APAC
Colin:
What do you think about Singapore, Hong Kong, and Dubai? These three cities seem to be competing to become the crypto hub in the APAC region, and they’re definitely among the hottest spots for crypto right now. What’s your view on these three cities, and why did Coinbase choose Singapore as its APAC center?
John:
Great question. First off, I have to say, just getting here today in the heat made me a bit sweaty! Now, back to the point — Singapore and Hong Kong have been competing for business for a long time, even back in my TradFi days and during my time with Domino’s. Whether it’s oil trading, financial services, wealth management, or tourism, the two cities have always been vying for a top position.
I remember when I was with Domino’s, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) kept chasing me, saying, “Hey, Domino’s should set up its office in Hong Kong.” At the same time, the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) was telling me, “Come to Singapore and build a large central kitchen for your pizzas here.” So this competition isn’t new at all. What is new is the rise of Abu Dhabi and Dubai in this crypto race. When we looked at where to base ourselves, we focused heavily on trust. Users need to know that Coinbase is secure and resilient — our network has never been hacked, and we prioritize reliability and compliance.
We may not always be the flashiest or the sexiest exchange, but we’re moving in that direction, especially with the work we’re doing on our international exchange (INTX) and retail advanced (RAT) trading platforms. However, we’ve always been more focused on being stable and safe — think of us as “Anchuan Wending”, meaning secure and reliable. That’s why we felt aligned with what the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Singapore Inc. represent, and that’s why we applied for our license in Singapore.
Now, while Hong Kong launched its regulations earlier and has some strong policies in place, globally, we’ve had concerns about certain local requirements, such as local liquidity, matching engines, and market makers. These rules, in our view, conflict with the fundamental principles of decentralized finance, so we’ve been cautious about registering in Hong Kong for now. But that doesn’t mean we won’t in the future.
We’ve been in conversations with HSBC regarding sub-custody solutions for the Hong Kong market, and we already have a good number of Hong Kong customers on the institutional side. We also have RAT users from Hong Kong trading through our platform. So we’re already there, but the regulatory environment presents challenges.
One of our key partners, Animoca Brands, is based in Hong Kong, and they use multiple Coinbase services — custody, Prime, NFTs, and we’re even listing their education token. So, we have a warm relationship with Hong Kong, and we’re keen to deepen that connection.
As for Dubai and Abu Dhabi, our teams have been in extended discussions with the local authorities there, and it’s something we’re actively exploring. One key factor for us when choosing a hub is whether there’s a vibrant user base across our three pillars: retail, institutional, and developer (Web3, or Base). Singapore ticks all those boxes, whereas Dubai’s market, west of India, may not yet be as relevant in that regard.
Colin:
Got it. What’s your view on offshore exchanges like Binance, OKX, and Bybit? Some people believe that as crypto becomes more regulated, offshore exchanges will shrink in importance. Others say that countries outside of the U.S. may not have the power to regulate them, and they could keep operating for a long time. What’s your take?
John:
I don’t think Coinbase wakes up every morning thinking Binance will suddenly disappear. Binance is a very respected and enormous player in the market. They’ve built up incredible loyalty among their users, and we know that many traders use both platforms — ours and theirs. Some traders like to spread their activity across multiple exchanges and markets. So, we respect Binance.
We don’t make a habit of commenting on our competitors’ futures, but I can tell you that our focus is on compliance, and we take regulation seriously in every geography we operate in. That’s a strategy we believe will pay off in the long run. Yes, it’s costly, and it takes time, but we’re proud of the work we’ve done, especially with compliance in Europe under MiCA. It’s a significant engineering investment, but it’s the right thing to do. Ironically, while everyone looks to the U.S. and the SEC for regulatory leadership, Europe is actually ahead of the game.
Meanwhile, exchanges like Binance and OKX are making moves to upskill their leadership, hiring talent with traditional finance backgrounds to strengthen their compliance. We see that as an important step in the evolution of the industry. We’re building a strong foundation to ensure Coinbase remains a leading player in the future.
Colin:
I understand. In the crypto world, not just in the U.S. but across APAC, people are keenly watching the U.S. elections. It’s interesting how Trump has suddenly become a “crypto lover.” He even bought Bitcoin to purchase a hamburger recently. If Trump wins, how do you think the U.S. and global crypto environments might change?
John:
Yeah, I’m aware of that. Kara Calvert, our head of U.S. policy, gave a great talk on TV yesterday, addressing this exact question regarding Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Regardless of who wins, we’re confident that the next president will be more supportive of crypto than previous administrations.
I’m not a U.S. voter, but I did live there for seven years, and it was a great experience. I think everyone is watching this election closely, but let’s not forget — there are about 2 billion people voting worldwide this year, and in many large democratic economies, this matters. That’s why we’re rolling out the “Stand with Crypto” initiative in a careful and thoughtful way, bringing it to markets where it makes sense. We don’t want to overstep in regions where local politics might complicate things, but I believe the outcome will be positive. As for who’s buying hamburgers with Bitcoin — well, I won’t comment on that, especially when it involves politicians! We’ll know more in about 50 days.
Colin:
My last question: we’ve already talked for more than half an hour, and I know you must be tired from all the meetings. You have deep experience in China — what do you think is the future of crypto there? Will China eventually open up to crypto? Hong Kong is part of China, after all, and it seems to be benefiting from some policies in Beijing, right?
John:
Absolutely, and look, these are my personal views, not Coinbase’s official position.
Colin:
I want your personal view.
John:
Well, if anyone tells you they’re an expert on China, you can be sure they’re not. I haven’t been to China since before COVID, but I keep in touch with many Chinese friends and follow a lot of WeChat groups. China’s economy has been the main topic of conversation at every dinner I’ve attended this week. It feels like China may be heading into a “lost decade” economically, and it’s going to take five to ten years to get back to where it was. That said, some of the most exciting projects I saw on Base at Token 2049 were started by Chinese founders.
Colin:
From China, of course.
John:
Exactly. China has so many developers. It doesn’t matter if they’re in Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Singapore — they’re everywhere. At Token 2049, you could walk the floors and hear Mandarin everywhere, especially Mainland Mandarin. Clearly, China and its intellectual property are central to the future of crypto.
Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area have been innovation sandboxes since Deng Xiaoping opened up China. That legacy is strong, and I believe there’s a future for crypto in China. You can’t close off an entire economy forever — people will always find ways to access what they need.
This issue ties into a broader philosophical challenge: trying to stop people from accessing things that improve their lives. I see a similar problem in Australia, where banks are trying to block fiat transfers into crypto accounts, delaying transactions for 24 hours or limiting deposits to $10,000. In some cases, they even restrict withdrawals, all because they don’t fully understand the risk profile of crypto users. It’s a lazy and unimaginative approach. They view crypto as a threat instead of an opportunity. That’s why I’m passionate about working with innovative players to improve the system. This is what excites younger generations across Asia and beyond, and that’s why I love being in this space.
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