Coinbase is one of the most trusted places for companies to trade and store digital assets, leveraging years of experience managing our treasury position in cryptocurrencies.
To read more about our work with corporations, click here.By Surojit Chatterjee , Chief Product Officer
Over the past 12 months, we’ve increased the performance of our exchange, rolled out support for new assets, grown our coverage team in the US, APAC and Europe, crossed $90B in assets on platform as of December 31, 2020, utilizing the enhanced trading tools from our Tagomi acquisition to win large public clients, and launched a market maker program while building the institutional brand more widely.
Today, we’re excited to announce another milestone for the company: Brett Redfearn will join Coinbase as our VP of Product, Capital Markets. Reporting to me, he will be responsible for defining and driving a vision and strategy to set the global standard for crypto capital markets, including digital asset securities and our crypto trading platform.
Brett brings more than 25 years of experience in senior leadership roles across the financial services landscape. Most recently, he served as the Director of the Division of Trading & Markets at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he led more than 250 professional staff responsible for the regulation of exchanges, broker dealers, clearing agencies and transfer agents. Prior to that, he spent 13 years at JP Morgan, serving as Global Head of Market Structure, Algorithmic Trading, and Liquidity Products throughout his tenure. His extensive expertise in markets, regulation and electronic trading makes him the ideal candidate for this position.
I recently sat down with Brett to tell us why he’s excited to join Coinbase. Following is an excerpt of our conversation:
Surojit: You’ve had an impressive career working across the private and public sector. What made this role at Coinbase a compelling opportunity?
Brett: “I’ve always been fascinated with the impact that new technologies have on financial markets. Over the course of my career, I have been directly involved in our markets’ evolution, whether at a traditional floor-based stock exchange, a growing electronic exchange, on a Wall Street trading desk, or at the SEC. I witnessed firsthand how the electronification of trading transformed markets and trading practices and understand well how regulation can both spur it on or keep it in check. I believe that digital assets are at a similar crossroads today. The technology has matured, the regulatory requirements are more clear, and the environment is increasingly conducive for bringing digital assets, including securities, to millions of investors.
Surojit: What excites you the most about the potential for blockchain technology in the evolving cryptoeconomy, especially for digital asset securities?
Brett: I believe that blockchain technology has the ability to creatively address some of the fundamental limitations that exist in today’s primary and secondary markets. It is well known that companies are staying private longer or deciding not to go public. Blockchain technology enables creative new forms of access to capital and investors. It is also true that secondary markets today are overly complex and provide uneven access to different types of participants. I believe that a digitized trading ecosystem can help democratize retail investors’ ability to access our capital markets on a fair and level playing field. I also believe that instantaneous settlement will eventually be possible, which could ameliorate capital requirements and improve market liquidity.
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