Coinbase shuffles APAC leadership, appoints new regional policy lead

Crypto exchange operator Coinbase today announced leadership changes in its Asia-Pacific team.

The San Francisco-based company said in a blog post that John O’Loghlen, who joined as country director for Australia from Ant Group in July, has taken on the additional role of regional managing director of APAC.

Nana Murugesan, VP of business development and international at Coinbase, said in a statement that O’Loghlen “will be tasked with leading the region with a more focused approach in 2023, while building for our long-term success.”

Coinbase also said it had hired Katie Mitchell as APAC head of policy to spearhead the company’s engagement with local regulators. Mitchell previously worked as global head of public policy and government engagement at Crypto.com, and prior to that spent a decade at Visa in policy-related roles based in Washington, D.C., and Asia-Pacific offices.

O’Loghlen is on the board of Blockchain Australia, the industry body, while Mitchell serves as an advisory board member to Emerging Payments Association Asia.

Meanwhile, APAC head of market operations Marc Robinson and Justin Choi, head of corporate development and ventures for APAC, have both left the company, according to people familiar with the matter. Both had been based in Singapore, where Coinbase was recently given in-principle approval by regulators to offer regulated digital payment token products and services.

Robinson joined in April this year from derivatives exchange Bitmex, where he had served as global head of custody. Before getting into crypto, Robinson spent more than a decade in banking — including a notable stint as head of high frequency trading product at JPMorgan Chase, according to his LinkedIn profile. Choi joined Coinbase roughly a year ago from CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm, where he was a managing director focused on technology, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Robinson and Coinbase declined to comment. Choi did not immediately respond to request for comment.

As of October, Coinbase employed 100 people in Singapore, its regional hub. As of the same date, the company had invested in over 15 Singapore-based crypto startups.

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