iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
The US-based cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase has appointed a former Google Pay executive for its India Site Lead and VP Engineering.
The firm is also set to hire hundreds of employees across various roles in the next one-two years.
Pankaj Gupta, who was leading Google Pay Engineering in APAC and India earlier, after his appointment, said in a blog post, “For the next phase of my life after Google, I am thrilled to share that I will be joining Coinbase as VP of Engineering and Site lead for India. I’ll be responsible for leading and building the company’s technology hub in India from scratch. I will be hiring across India.”
He also said, “India has world-class tech expertise and some of the brightest minds in the industry. Coinbase plans to tap and develop this local talent.”
“Specifically, the plan is to hire hundreds of employees across all levels in engineering, product management, UX design, research and program management within the next one-two years to build out a full tech hub in India. Together, we’ll work on some of the most interesting challenges spanning the full modern tech stack — including deep tech areas like blockchains, data engineering, infrastructure, machine learning and more,” he said.
Pankaj Gupta, who is a Delhi IIT graduate according to his LinkedIn profile, wrote on Medium: “Coinbase is innovating at the frontier of crypto and blockchains — some of the most exciting trends in the world today. In my conversations with the Coinbase executive leadership, it became clear that this is an ambitious and mission-focused company for builders like me.”
The company will also explore startup acquisitions and acqui-hires, he added.
The US-based Coinbase had a blockbuster debut in the US stock exchange NASDAQ recently with a valuation of $86 billion last week.
On March 25, the company said that it would set up its base in Hyderabad and will hire talents even as uncertainty around the regulation for cryptocurrency continues.
“We expect to open a physical office, initially in Hyderabad, for Indian employees as COVID-related conditions allow,” the company said then.
“Along with active hiring in the US, the UK, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Canada and the Philippines, establishing a presence in India is another important step to building more geographic diversity in our remote-first workforce,” the company said.
This comes at a time when the Indian government is mulling a ban on cryptocurrency, which the industry said would be a setback. Nandan Nilekani, chairman, Infosys, said during a recent event that Indians should be allowed to have crypto as an asset class.
