Coinbase head of exchange announces departure, says he has “a lot to build on”

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Vishal Gupta on Monday, 10 April announced His departure from the company Coinbase, where he served as the head of the exchange. According to Gupta, he is very proud of his 2.5 years with the company, but feels “it is time for (him) to move on”. Coinbase’s now-former head of exchange also spent several years working for Goldman Sachs and was instrumental in the launch of Circle’s USDC.

Vishal Gupta announces his departure from Coinbase

Coinbase’s former head of exchange Vishal Gupta announced his departure from the company in a Twitter thread published this Monday. While Gupta said he is very proud of the work he has done in his 2.5 years with the firm, he has decided it is time to “move on”. Throughout the thread, he pointed out the many milestones Coinbase has achieved during his time with the company.

These include, for example, the acquisition of FairX—completed in January 2022—but said he is particularly “obsessed” with the launch of USDC. USDC is one of the largest stablecoins in the world and is a joint project between Coinbase and Circle. Gupta also pointed out that, during his tenure with the exchange, the company increased its market share from 35% in 2020 to a recent high of around 65%.

In addition to his time at Coinbase, Vishal Gupta spent several years at Goldman Sachs. Earlier on Monday, Bloomberg reported that Gupta was planning to start a new cryptocurrency project and the former Coinbase head of exchange said in his Twitter thread that “there’s a lot to build on”, adding that “That’s all (he is) going to do”.

Coinbase’s head of exchange departs at a turbulent time for the company

While Gupta made no mention of it in the thread, his departure comes at a difficult time for Coinbase as well as the broader cryptocurrency industry. Coinbase has recently found itself under regulatory pressure after it received a Wells notice warning that the SEC is considering enforcement action due to alleged securities law violations. Furthermore, the CEO of the exchange, Brian Armstrong, has been one of the loudest voices warning of a wider regulatory crackdown on the industry.

Armstrong took to Twitter to discuss rumors that the SEC may seek to ban cryptocurrencies altogether as US authorities take enforcement action against stablecoin issuer Paxos and cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. His warnings may have some backing as the commission’s Gary Gensler said in an interview he gave around the same time that most of the digital asset industry is not compliant and that all betting services are essentially the same.

Along with Kraken, Paxos and Coinbase, Binance also found itself in hot water with US watchdogs in recent weeks as it was sued by the CFTC. Despite troubling developments and several notable departures due to the regulatory landscape in the US, the digital asset industry is doing well in the first quarter of 2023. Major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are up nearly 75% YTD, and similarly, stocks related to major digital assets have also seen significant growth, with Coinbase itself being in the green nearly 97% over the same period.