Coinbase appointed George Osborne as chairman of the internal advisory board

Coinbase, the largest US-based crypto exchange, appointed George Osborne, the Chancellor of the United Kingdom, to head the company's internal advisory council.

In the year The decision to appoint Osborne, who began working as Coinbase's adviser in 2024 in a battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is part of Coinbase's strategy to expand its influence with foreign governments, Reuters reported.

Osborne made the announcement Thursday, framing the new leadership position as a learning opportunity. And so he said.

“Having served on Coinbase's advisory board for over two years, I've seen the blockchain revolution and its potential to spread the ownership left by the system to the masses. Chairing it is an amazing opportunity to learn more.”

In August, Osborne criticized the UK in a Financial Times op-ed for falling behind other jurisdictions in crypto regulations and development.

The lack of development in the British pound-pegged stablecoins was a key concern of Osborne, who argued that the pound is in danger of becoming irrelevant, as the pound claims most of the market share of American stablecoins, strengthening the role of the dollar as the international reserve currency.

Osborne's appointment comes at an important time for Coinbase, as the company recently acquired other businesses such as crypto derivatives exchange Deribit and expanded its product offerings beyond crypto and into traditional asset classes.

Related: Coinbase expands in Poland with Blik mobile payments integration

Coinbase strives to be a one-stop shop for financial services.

Coinbase announced the integration of its token stock trading and prediction markets on Wednesday in a bid to become the “everything app” for finance.

Tokenization of stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) enables 24/7 trading and allows these traditional financial assets to be used as collateral in crypto applications.

The exchange has selected Kalshi as a service provider for its future prediction market platform, allowing investors to trade event contracts.

Coinbase also plans to offer perpetual crypto and stock futures by 2026, with up to 50x leverage available to users.

Unlike traditional futures contracts, fixed contracts never expire and feature 24/7 trading.

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