Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong meets institutional clients in Singapore as exchange expands APAC footprint
Armstrong's Singapore swing included regulator meetings, a Base builder roundtable, and a Bloomberg Television appearance as Coinbase pushes deeper into Asia-Pacific.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong spent the middle of September in Singapore, sitting down with Asia-Pacific institutional clients and regulators in what amounts to a strategic charm offensive for the exchange’s fastest-growing regional market.
The visit included a Bloomberg Television appearance, meetings with Coinbase’s local engineering team, and a roundtable with builders on Base, the company’s Ethereum Layer-2 network. No blockbuster product launches or acquisitions came out of the trip, but the subtext was clear: Coinbase is treating Singapore as its launchpad for the entire APAC region, and Armstrong wanted to show up in person to prove it.
What happened on the ground
Armstrong hosted a roundtable with Base builders on September 14, spotlighting projects spanning trading, financing, and payments built on the Layer-2 chain.
The trip also featured sit-downs with regional regulators. That timing wasn’t accidental. Coinbase recently received in-principle approval for a payments institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city-state’s central bank and financial regulator.
The news moving money, markets, and the world—before your day starts.
Daily. Free. Join 34,000+ readers across crypto, finance, and policy.
Armstrong also carved out time to appear on Bloomberg Television around September 10, discussing broader crypto industry dynamics.
Coinbase’s Singapore buildout by the numbers
Coinbase currently runs an engineering office in Singapore with roughly 150 employees. The company plans to grow that to approximately 200 by the end of 2026, a roughly 33% increase in headcount.
The new hires are expected to focus on advanced trading products, the kind of institutional-grade infrastructure that hedge funds, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds in the region want before they park serious capital on an exchange.