Coinbase is planning to provide a service to target Australia’s self-managed pensions sector.
The exchange’s Asia-Pacific Managing Director John O’Loghlen told Bloomberg, “We don’t see this as cannibalizing the ETF players.”
Coinbase is developing a service that will specifically target Australia’s self-managed pensions sector, the exchange’s Asia-Pacific Managing Director John O’Loghlen told Bloomberg.
Crypto’s relationship with the pensions sector and retirees isn’t exactly new. Self-managed funds in Australia have increasingly held crypto since March 2019. According to the latest data from the Australian Taxation Office, nearly A$1 billion ($664 million) is allocated to crypto. That’s a steep increase from only A$197 million in December 2019. Thousands of Australians who used self-managed pension funds to bet on cryptocurrencies have even lost millions of dollars, Reuters reported in March 2023.
“Self-managed super funds might just make a single allocation, set it and forget it,” O’Loghlen told Bloomberg. We are working on an offering to service those clients really well on a one-off basis—to have them trade with us and stay with us.”
Coinbase did not immediately respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.
Crypto interest in the self-managed pensions sector may be driven by the recent momentum the crypto sector has gained after spot-ETF approvals in the U.S. and the likelihood that Australia, too, could see similar approvals this year.
“We don’t see this as cannibalizing the ETF players, but more a rising tide and a big enough interest for someone to come in through their own self-managed portal,” said O’Loghlen.