Building for Canada and the World, from Canada
Tl;dr We have hired Lucas Matheson as our Country Director in Canada, have scaled up a local tech hub with 200+ engineers, and have signed an enhanced Pre-Registration Undertaking.
At Coinbase, we’re working hard to update the financial system and increase economic freedom and opportunity around the world. To do this, we’re focused on launching trusted products that expand the utility and adoption of crypto. While we chose to become a public company in the US as part of our commitment to transparency and compliance, we remain acutely focused on bringing the benefits of crypto to all markets. As part of our ongoing International Expansion strategy, we are proud to announce our expansion plans in Canada - a key international market.
To kick off our efforts in Canada, a key market in our Go Deep roadmap, we have hired Lucas Matheson as the Country Director, based in Ottawa. Lucas brings a wealth of experience from his time at Shopify and with leading financial institutions in Canada. He is passionate about the potential of cryptocurrencies to transform the financial landscape and is excited to help make crypto more accessible in Canada, and be a part of Coinbase's mission to increase economic freedom.
We are investing significant resources in local Canadian innovation. We have built out a tech hub in Canada with over 200 engineers who are supporting our global product portfolio. Additionally, our global leadership team will be making frequent trips to Canada to engage with regulators, partners, and the community, to better understand the Canadian market and its unique needs.
On Friday, March 24th, Coinbase Canada signed an enhanced Pre-Registration Undertaking (PRU). We continue to work with policymakers on a strong crypto regulatory framework for Canadians. We applaud the Canadian securities regulators’ efforts to bring clarity to the industry and look forward to continuing our collaboration with them on regulation that protects consumers while embracing innovation. Our goal is to provide the most trusted and secure platform for Canadians to buy, sell, and trade crypto and we are grateful for a thoughtful and responsible regulatory review process.
With the recent PRU commitment by crypto platforms to a regulatory path, the Canadian crypto industry is poised for collaboration and growth. Moving forward, it is essential for our industry to work closely together to help define regulation, engage in constructive dialogue with government officials and policy makers, and work to strengthen the narrative around crypto in Canada to promote its widespread understanding and adoption.
We believe Canadians are eager to access the benefits of cryptocurrencies, and we are excited to be able to provide them with a trusted platform to do so. With our expansion into Canada, we are one step closer to realizing our mission of creating an open financial system and increasing economic freedom across the globe.
International
About Lucas Matheson and Nana Murugesan
Lucas Matheson is Coinbase's Canadian Country Director. He is committed to helping create a more equitable financial system in Canada through the power of blockchain.
Lucas has always believed in Coinbase’s mission. He opened his Coinbase account back in 2014, long before joining the company. In his role, he ensures Coinbase is built for Canadians and with their interests in mind. Working with partners, government and regulators, he is making crypto more accessible to Canadians.
Prior to Coinbase, he was the founder and CEO of Pinshape (exit Formlabs), and Senior Director at Shopify leading various operational and finance teams.
Lucas is passionate about entrepreneurship. He spends his spare time advising entrepreneurs and founders on how they can grow and scale, and actively invests in web3 projects and infrastructure.
Nana Murugesan is the Vice President of International and Business Development at Coinbase where he leads the company’s international operations and global partnerships. Previously, he was the Managing Director of International Markets at Snap Inc. where he led Snapchat’s international expansion and strategic partnerships.
Earlier in his career, Nana was the Vice President and General Manager at Samsung, where he served in a number of strategy, partnerships, and operations roles to launch and grow their Galaxy smartphone and services business, notably Samsung Pay. He also held product roles at Cisco and strategy consulting roles at BCG.
Nana received his BE in Engineering from the University of Madras, MS in Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
