Coinbase hires former Goldman Sachs partner Liz Martin to help build 'everything exchange'

A former partner at Goldman Sachs has joined Coinbase as the cryptocurrency firm pursues a long-term strategy that involves expanding the suite of services it offers customers.

Coinbase said on Wednesday it had hired Liz Martin to be its new VP, Product, overseeing Markets and Derivatives. "She will lead Coinbase’s exchanges, drive the next phase of growth for the company’s derivatives business, and manage its global markets team – all key pillars of Coinbase’s 'Everything Exchange' strategy," the company said in a statement.

The cryptocurrency firm Coinbase has recently been discussing its ambitions publicly about transforming into an "everything exchange" — a one-stop platform where users can trade, borrow, stake, spend, and earn. Coinbase's plans include adding tokenized stocks, prediction markets, and early-stage token sales.

During her time at Goldman Sachs, Martin served as a partner in the global markets business and led initiatives "across trading, technology, and consumer finance, including as head of enterprise partnerships ... where she oversaw business development, operations, and product launches in credit cards, savings, and buy-now-pay-later offerings," according to a statement.

"Derivatives sit at the center of every mature market, and Coinbase has an enormous opportunity to lead this space globally as crypto markets reach institutional scale," Martin said in the statement.

In September, as part of its "everything exchange" push, Coinbase acqui-hired two founders of Sensible, a crypto yield-earning platform. Then last month, Benchmark’s Mark Palmer reiterated the firm's "Buy" rating and $421 price target, saying Coinbase’s “everything exchange” strategy proved “powerfully levered to a crypto bull cycle.”