Coinbase appoints former UK minister George Osborne to chair advisory council

Coinbase just dropped a power move — they've tapped George Osborne, the UK's former Chancellor of the Exchequer, to chair their internal advisory council. This isn't just a random hire; it's a strategic play to expand their influence with foreign governments while they're battling the SEC back home. Osborne's been advising Coinbase since 2024, and now he's taking the lead seat.

Osborne hasn't been shy about his views — he penned an op-ed in the Financial Times back in August, calling out the UK for lagging behind on crypto regulations. His main beef? The lack of British pound-pegged stablecoins, which he says risks making the pound irrelevant as US stablecoins dominate and cement the dollar's global reserve status. Basically, he's warning the UK: get your act together or get left behind.

This appointment comes at a wild time for Coinbase. They've been on an acquisition spree (hello, Deribit), and they're expanding beyond crypto into traditional assets. They're not just a crypto exchange anymore — they're building a financial empire.

Coinbase just announced they're integrating tokenized stock trading and prediction markets. Translation: they're going full 'everything app' for finance. Tokenizing stocks and ETFs means 24/7 trading and using these assets as collateral in crypto apps — a game-changer for DeFi.

They've partnered with Kalshi for prediction markets (think betting on events), and they're planning to roll out perpetual crypto and stock futures in 2026 — with up to 50x leverage. Perpetual futures don't expire, and they trade 24/7. This isn't just an upgrade; it's a complete overhaul of what a crypto exchange can be.