Coinbase Building New Blockchain Tech Hub In India

Coinbase has announced job openings in the design, engineering, product, and support function teams such as HR and recruiting, and customer experience.

The crypto startup has planned to “build out a sustainable, well-rounded tech hub” in India. Coinbase said it is “fully committed to expand understanding of crypto and blockchain in the region”, and plans to hire “hundreds of engineers in the near term”.

Coinbase Debuts On Nasdaq

In April this year, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc became the first crypto startup to list on Nasdaq.

Coinbase’s debut on the Nasdaq is a watershed moment for crypto economy – a rapidly evolving ecosystem that includes digital currencies, and other digital assets such as NFTs. It also encompasses a broad range of companies working to decentralise finance and disrupt every other industries on the planet with blockchain technology.

Coinbase Building Crypto out of India

In a related blog post titled ‘Building Crypto out of India‘, Pankaj Gupta, VP Engineering and Site Lead India, outlined Coinbase’s plans for India.

Gupta said the post shares the company’s “plans and ambitions in India and how we are thinking about this hub in general”.

He noted this is the most exciting time “for builders working in crypto” worldwide, but India, in particular, had important native projects such as Polygon and Instadapp. He also mentioned: “It is of course well known that India has a vibrant, world class community of software engineers, technology builders and entrepreneurs.…we are pleasantly surprised at growing expertise in crypto and blockchain technologies as well.”

So, what can we expect?

Gupta said the company is “fully committed to expanding understanding of crypto and blockchain in the region”, and plans to hire “hundreds of engineers in the near term”.

Besides the engineering team, complementary openings will also be in the product and design teams, and support function teams such as recruiting and HR to “build out a sustainable, well-rounded tech hub”.

The India hub will have teams in all major areas Coinbase works in — infrastructure, cloud, platform, payments, crypto, blockchains, data engineering, machine learning, growth, and product engineering, among others.

The company will also explore startup acquisitions and acquihires in India, for which Guptas asked interested founders to contact him directly.

Coinbase plans for teams to function independently – led by local engineering directors with large and autonomous charters.

The localised independence is “intentional” to optimise impact and velocity. But teams will work on a combination of global and local products and systems in the wider APAC region.

The organisation structure has been planned to “maximise learning, growth and impact”.

The hub will have a “flexible and modern work environment, with plenty of perks”, Gupta said.

Coinbase to Open Offices in Key Indian Cities

He noted that Coinbase has a “remote-first strategy”, which means they will hire from all parts of India and will have physical offices in key cities to provide a hybrid, flexible environment.

CIkka – Coinbase India Sikka

Coinbase is also introducing a new program called CIkka — short for “Coinbase India Sikka” — offering each new employee in India a one-time $1000 in crypto when they start.

“Our expectation is that they’ll leverage this offering to learn about crypto, and will use this knowledge to help us build the next generation of products that will delight our customers around the world,” Gupta said.

The company is also focused on “a culture of sustained innovation” and under Project 10% dedicates 10 percent of its resources to supporting big product bets.

Interested candidates can apply for an open position on Coinbase website here.