40% of top ten hedge funds being onboarded by Coinbase, says head of EMEA sales

A discussion surrounding institutional access to markets and prime brokerages at the Digital Asset Summit in London has outlined the extent of Coinbase’s appeal and attraction for institutional clients.

Speaking at the event, Guilliame Chatain, the head of European Sales for Coinbase, revealed the exchange has been “bombarded with requests from European institutions” eager to enter crypto markets and starting to “position themselves” ahead of further regulatory events in the coming years.

Chatain said  “the building blocks are here” for platforms and exchanges to attract and offer services like borrow/lending and financing to institutions, although an array of factors are missing for it to be truly successful at the current time.

He noted that the ability to automate “post-trade credit” and instant access to borrow/lending markets of large-cap assets could prove to be key for platforms in the race for superiority. He also touched on how the platform that introduces the cross-margining of assets will very likely win the race.

When speaking about regulation, Chatain believes “it’s going to be better for everybody in the long-term” for the crypto space and that institutions, particularly in the US, have been speaking to Coinbase “massively since December in the US”.

Chatain touched on how more clarity regarding regulation in Europe had attracted “a lot of banks from Germany and Europe”.

He also expanded on the extent of institutions within Europe using Coinbase to facilitate trades and financial products, saying “40% of the top ten hedge funds are talking to Coinbase and being onboarded” to its product.

Finally, when speaking about Coinbase Prime – Coinbase’s native institutional product – he said that the biggest compliment Coinbase receives from clients is “that the platform and your services look very much like what exists in traditional finance”.