Coinbase snags an executive from the New York Stock Exchange as it tries to become the Google of crypto

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Coinbase snags an executive from the New York Stock Exchange as it tries to become the Google of crypto

FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, (NYSE) in New York, U.S., February 26, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Thomson Reuters

Traders work on the floor of the NYSE in New York

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  • The New York Stock Exchange lost an executive to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, according to a blog post by the company.
  • Eric Scro is set to join the San Francisco-based company as vice president of finance.
  • Coinbase, which has been at the heart of the crypto boom, told Business Insider it expects to double its team from 250 employees to 500 in 2018.

Count this as a sign that Coinbase is snagging talent to build to the Google of crypto.

Coinbase, the cryptocurrency trading platform, hired an executive from the New York Stock Exchange, according to a blog post out Thursday.

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Eric Scro is set to join the San Francisco company as its vice president of finance. Previously, Scro was the head of finance at the New York Stock Exchange. He has been with the exchange operator since 2009, according to his LinkedIn page.

In a statement on the new hire, Coinbase said, "Eric will be focused on helping serve institutional clients and deal with the increasingly complex financial and regulatory requirements of the business."

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The hire is especially striking considering a statement by the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday that said certain online crypto-trading platforms like Coinbase would have to register with the agency. Currently, crypto exchanges answer to state-level regulators.

Across the market for digital coins, exchanges are building out and staffing up to meet surging demand. Coinbase, which is one of the most well-known cryptocurrency companies, told Business Insider it is looking to double its staff from 250 to 500 in 2018.

"We are hiring a bunch of different executives at the company," he said. "It's part of the scaling effort."

Coinbase general manager Don Romero told Business Insider's Becky Peterson that those hires will be some more c-level executives, who Romero hope will transform the company into a behemoth in the space. In January, Coinbase hired former Twitter executive Tina Bhatnagar to grow the company's customer support team.

"We're trying to build a Google-like company for the cryptocurrency space."

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