Coinbase is planning to open up a new base in Dublin as part of its contingency plans for a hard Brexit, the Guardian newspaper has claimed this morning.
The cryptocurrency exchange plans to keep London as its European headquarters, with Coinbase UK CEO Zeeshan Feroz indicating that its Dublin expansion allows the outfit to “plan for all eventualities” and “to continue servicing our customers across Europe … if it comes to it.”
Whilst the cryptocurrency industry is itself not impacted by Brexit, “many of the biggest cryptocurrency companies have substantial operations that overlap with the conventional financial sector,” the Guardian states.
Brexit No Deal Looms Large
With only six months to go, the odds of a No Deal Brexit – a scenario in which no formal arrangement has been made for Britain’s exit from the European Union on April 1st 2019 – now stand at evens with British bookmakers, indicating an implied probability of 50%. Under such an outcome, it appears likely that Coinbase would initiate a move of its European capital to Dublin.
A major complication in the UK’s on-going talks with the EU relate to the Irish border, with the DUP – a Northern Irish pro-unionist and pro-Brexit party which holds the balance of power in the UK parliament – indicating that they will not accommodate any exceptional arrangements for Northern Ireland.
