Justin Choi, who had previously headed up corporate development at Go-Jek for four years, is set to do the same for Coinbase and its CVC arm in the Asia-Pacific region.

US-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has appointed Justin Choi to head corporate development and corporate venture capital unit Coinbase Ventures in the Asia-Pacific region. Choi comes from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, where he focused on Asia tech activity as a managing director and where he will continue to hold an advisory position. Prior to joining CVC in 2020, Choi spent four years as head of corporate development at Indonesia-based ride hailing service Gojek, leading its corporate venturing activities during a time when it established its early-stage investment arm, Go-Ventures. Coinbase Ventures, formed in 2018, has grown into one of the world’s more active corporate venturers in the past year, having taken part in eight deals in the past month despite a general downturn in the cryptocurrency markets. Although the unit’s larger investments are generally located in North America or elsewhere in Asia, its portfolio includes Indonesia-based digital currency exchange Pintu, digital asset platform developer Amber Group and DeBank, a portfolio tracker developer for decentralised finance assets, both of which are headquartered in Singapore. Choi said in a LinkedIn post announcing the move: “Though the current market environment has been challenging, I’m incredibly optimistic about the future of an open and decentralised internet and the impact of products being built utilising blockchain technology. “I’m excited about investing in the Web3/crypto startup ecosystem in Asia Pacific and helping drive Coinbase’s business expansion across the region. Look forward to working with founders, business partners and other investors in the space.”

Subscribe to go deeper

GCV subscribers get access to all our proprietary data and deep-dive articles, as well as the global directory of CVC investors.



Not sure if you have a subscription?
Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.