Building Crypto's Next Frontier: John (Coinbase)
MD (Head of APAC) @ Coinbase
Are stablecoins cheaper for cross-border payments? What are the promising use-cases for crypto? Coinbase's MD (Head of APAC), John O’Loghlen, sees crypto adoption in APAC accelerating. APAC is both a major opportunity and a tough proving ground. In this conversation, John shares his view on the region’s future - from stablecoins and trade finance to competition and what success could look like five years from now.
Q: Before we dive into crypto, could you share a bit about your journey and how you came to lead Coinbase in APAC?
John: I’m originally from New Zealand. After university in the U.S., I started my career in finance at Goldman Sachs, working through the dot-com bust and spending time in Beijing. Later, I pivoted into the restaurant industry across Asia, building Domino’s and our own ventures in China during the rise of platforms like Meituan and Dianping. That experience taught me about mobile-first consumer behavior and the importance of seamless payments - early lessons in digital adoption.
I later joined Alibaba, helping build its international business in Australia and New Zealand, scaling exports into China through platforms like T-Mall and Alipay. When that wound down, many of my old friends from finance and tech had moved into crypto. I went down the rabbit hole about four years ago, and Coinbase was expanding in Australia at the time. Their focus on compliance and transparency resonated with me, and that’s how I joined to lead APAC.
Q: Coinbase has expanded rapidly in APAC - from Australia to Singapore, Japan, and now India. How do you see the region’s complexity shaping your strategy?
John: APAC is not one homogenous region; it’s dozens of markets with vastly different levels of maturity, regulatory attitudes, and consumer behaviors. In Singapore, MAS has been proactive in building frameworks that balance innovation and investor protection, which creates fertile ground for new products. In Australia, regulators like ASIC and Austrac have become increasingly active, requiring companies to engage deeply on compliance, treasury, and custody. India, on the other hand, is a huge opportunity but also a market where we’ve had to learn humility - launching once, stepping back after regulatory challenges, and then relaunching with FIU registration under the Ministry of Finance.
Our strategy is to take the long-term view. That means building trust first: investing in compliance, setting up insurance and custody arrangements on par with global banks, and working directly with law enforcement to tackle scams and fraud. We also know customer experience must be localized. Users in APAC expect quick responses in their language and 24/7 support, which is why we’re scaling a center of excellence in Singapore. The region is complex, but if you do the hard work, it rewards you with scale and growth.
Q: Let’s talk about stablecoins. Some argue that on- and off-ramping costs reduce their benefits for cross-border payments. What’s your perspective?
John: At the moment, the costs of moving in and out of stablecoins can erode some of the savings people expect. But we’re still early. If you look at Ethereum’s evolution, fees have dropped dramatically with Layer 2 scaling solutions. Stablecoins will follow a similar trajectory as liquidity improves and adoption grows.
In APAC, remittances are one of the clearest use cases. Migrant workers sending money from Singapore to the Philippines, or from the Middle East to South Asia, face high costs through traditional channels. Early adopters are already using wallets and peer networks to reduce those costs significantly, often cutting hundreds of basis points compared to traditional fintech players. But to go mainstream, stablecoins need to be denominated in local currencies - SGD, AUD, JPY - so that they mirror the way people think about money day-to-day. That’s why Coinbase is supporting new local stablecoin projects. Once market makers and sovereign initiatives add liquidity, costs will fall further, and that’s when the real FX disruption happens.
Q: Beyond trading on crypto exchange, what use cases for crypto feel most promising in APAC? And what needs to happen for them to go mainstream?
John: Trade finance stands out. Right now, if you’re an oil trader in the Middle East trying to settle with a partner in Singapore, the transaction may take a week, involve up to 14 intermediary banks, and cost 400-500 basis points. That’s incredibly inefficient. Stablecoins can compress settlement times to minutes and reduce costs to a fraction. For industries like mining, energy, and commodities - where cross-border transactions are constant - the potential impact is massive.
But to enable that at scale, we need regulatory certainty at both ends of the transaction. If you’re sending from Singapore to Hong Kong, both sides need frameworks that give clarity to issuers and protect consumers. Encouragingly, regulators are moving. Just this week, ASIC announced relief for stablecoin providers, removing some of the uncertainty that stalls product launches. This matters because innovators need confidence they won’t be penalized for moving too quickly. With frameworks in place, investors keep funding, corporates gain confidence, and consumers know they have redress if something goes wrong. That’s how you unlock mainstream adoption.
Q: Coinbase is a U.S. company entering a region with strong local and global competitors. How do you view Coinbase’s role in APAC’s competitive landscape?
John: The first thing I’d say is respect. Local exchanges built these markets long before Coinbase arrived. They have many users and deep local roots. Our role is not to simply compete but to raise the bar - by bringing in the governance, compliance, and institutional-grade infrastructure that institutions and regulators demand.
We’ve made heavy investments in trust: crypto insurance through Lloyd’s, custodian licenses in New York that only a handful of global banks hold, and dedicated Trust & Risk teams that handle everything from compliance and litigation to law enforcement requests. These are costly, but they differentiate us. Unlike offshore exchanges, when we enter a market, we commit to being onshore - hiring experienced compliance leaders from TradFi and engaging regulators directly. That’s harder and more expensive, but it builds durable trust.
We’re also localizing our products. APAC users are far more yield-hungry than Western users, and we’re adapting to that. We’re investing in local CX and scaling a Singapore hub that will support the region broadly. The combination of global best practices with local relevance - that’s how Coinbase creates value in APAC.
Q: Finally, if we fast-forward five years, what does success look like for Coinbase in APAC?
John: For Coinbase, success means being the trusted bridge. If in five years a student in Manila can send money home instantly, a miner in Australia can settle with partners in Singapore at a fraction of today’s cost, and institutions can move billions securely on-chain - all with Coinbase as the trusted partner - that’s the vision. It’s about enabling prosperity, securely and compliantly, for millions across APAC.