Coinbase taps former Snap India head in emerging markets push

Durgesh Kaushik, the former head of Snap India, has been hired by the global exchange as it looks to expand its reach in India.

Kaushik is joining the company as Senior Director for Market Expansion and is tasked with helping the company with its launch in India and several other markets in the Asia Pacific region, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.

The company confirmed the development and said Kaushik will be joining on May 9.

Durgesh Kaushik will be joining the company on May 9 as the Senior Director for Market Expansion.

The appointment of this global leadership role is an important step towards our entry in India and our mission to increase economic freedom around the world. Durgesh will draw from his extensive experience to support our entry into other markets as outlined in our recent post on our global expansion strategy.

Kaushik, who co-founded a social-video platform and worked at firms including Facebook and Dunzo, is credited with helping to turn around the position of the company in India. The company grew its India monthly active user base to 130 million, up from 30 million when Kaushik joined, according to mobile insight firm Data.ai.

He was tasked to help the social media platform grow to 100 million users by Q1 or Q2 2021, according to an executive who has engaged with officials. Last month, Kaushik announced his departure.

The appointment of Kaushik comes at a time when Coinbase is scrambling to get its service up and running in India. Last month, the publicly listed firm announced the launch of Coinbase in India.

A payments railroad built by a coalition of retail banks has become the most popular way for Indians to transact online. The National Payments Corporation of India, the payments body that oversees UPI, threw a curve ball at the firm on the same day. Users of the app in the country have no means to top their currency because of the suspension of the support for UPI.

The Reserve Bank of India and the National Payments Corporation of India continue to put pressure on banks despite the Supreme Court lifting the ban.

The Economic Times reported late last month that several banks have approached and questioned the NPCI on its shadow banning of cryptocurrencies, and are seeking a formal directive. Brian Armstrong, co-founder and chief executive, said that tough questions and good questions were needed for NPCI and the Reserve Bank of India in India. Is the shadow ban a violation of the supreme court ruling?

The company is looking to hire a new managing director for India and South Asia.