Goldman Veteran Liz Martin Joins Coinbase to Drive Global Markets and Derivatives Expansion

Coinbase has added significant Wall Street firepower to its leadership team with the appointment of Liz Martin, a long-standing Goldman Sachs partner, who steps in as VP of Product, overseeing the exchange’s global Markets and Derivatives division. The move marks one of Coinbase’s most consequential senior hires to date as the company accelerates its transformation into a multi-market, full-service trading ecosystem.

Martin will guide the development of Coinbase’s exchange products, strengthen the derivatives franchise, and lead cross-market initiatives tied to the firm’s ambition to become what executives have called an “everything exchange”—a unified platform where users can trade, borrow, stake, spend, and eventually access tokenized assets and prediction markets.

At Goldman Sachs, Martin spent more than two decades shaping initiatives across trading, technology, and consumer finance. She led enterprise partnerships and played a central role in launching major products spanning credit, savings, and buy-now-pay-later offerings. Her operational range and product leadership are expected to play a pivotal role as Coinbase expands its institutional market presence.

Martin said the maturation of crypto markets is creating conditions similar to traditional asset classes: “Derivatives sit at the core of every developed financial system. Coinbase is uniquely positioned to lead this market as crypto trading reaches institutional scale.”

The appointment comes at a time when Coinbase is rapidly broadening its global footprint and regulatory structure. The company recently announced its intention to shift its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas, citing greater long-term legal predictability and a more business-friendly environment. It has also launched Coinbase Business in Singapore, offering local companies SGD-denominated real-time trading and payments through a partnership with Standard Chartered.

Institutional adoption is also strengthening. JPMorgan’s JPM Coin is set to operate on Coinbase’s Layer-2 network, Base, initially serving institutional clients before expanding more broadly once regulators approve.

Coinbase continues to outperform on the earnings front. In its latest quarterly results, the exchange reported $432.6 million in net income on $1.87 billion in revenue, supported by a broader asset lineup that now covers nearly 90 percent of total crypto market value. Despite recent share price volatility, analysts—including Benchmark’s Mark Palmer—maintain a bullish outlook on the company’s “everything exchange” strategy.

The addition of Martin signals Coinbase’s intention to build a markets business capable of competing directly with established global trading institutions. For Wall Street, the message is clear: the competitive battle for institutional derivatives liquidity is moving rapidly into crypto—and Coinbase is preparing to lead it.