Coinbase recruits Côme Prost-Boucle to run its business in France

Things have taken a while, but finally Coinbase is finally setting up shop in France. Two months after obtaining its registration as a digital asset service provider (PSAN) from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the American platform has just recruited a manager for France. He is Côme Prost-Boucle.

Cofounder of the NFT Paris conference, the 3rd edition of which takes place this week (23-24 February), Côme Prost-Boucle will be responsible for developing Coinbase's business in France. The Wall Street-listed US platform already has tens of thousands of French customers, but thanks to PSAN, it will now be able to communicate explicitly on a market it has been coveting for at least two years.

Officially, Côme Prost-Boucle is currently Coinbase's only employee on the French market. "I'll be relying on the other Coinbase members present in Europe, particularly on the marketing and product side," the new recruit explains to The Big Whale. Coinbase already has employees in Ireland, the UK and Germany, where its European manager, Daniel Seifert, is based.

"Our goal is to become leaders in France," explains Daniel Seifert. "France has always been a very interesting market for us. There is a clear regulatory framework, a dynamic ecosystem, but an average crypto adoption rate still lower than other countries in Europe, so the potential is huge," he adds.

"A real place to take in France"

Coinbase is arriving in France at a rather favourable time. For several months, Binance, which is the leader in France, has been experiencing some difficulties. At the end of 2023, the platform lost its CEO Stéphanie Cabossioras, who has not since been replaced.

Other heavyweight players such as Bitstamp and Bitpanda are also present in France, but no one has yet managed to establish themselves. The same goes for more national players such as Coinhouse. "There's a real place for us in France," says a sector insider. The question is whether Coinbase will succeed in taking it. In any case, it has some solid arguments for doing so.