Coinbase Taps Goldman Sachs Veteran Liz Martin to Lead Markets and Derivatives
Former Goldman Partner Joins to Build Coinbase’s “Everything platform”
Coinbase has appointed former Goldman Sachs partner Liz Martin as vice president of product for markets and derivatives, as the U.S. platform accelerates its effort to broaden into a full-service trading platform. Martin spent 25 years at Goldman, where she held senior roles across trading, technology, and consumer finance.
Coinbase said Martin will overview its platforms, lead growth in the derivatives segment, and manage the company’s global markets team — all key parts of its “Everything platform” plan to integrate trading, borrowing, staking, spending, and earning into one platform.
“Derivatives sit at the center of every mature market, and Coinbase has an enormous opportunity to lead this space globally as reach institutional scale,” Martin said in a statement on Wednesday.
Investor Takeaway
Expanding Beyond Spot Trading
Coinbase has spent much of 2025 laying the groundwork for its transition into an all-encompassing trading venue. Its “Everything platform” concept envisions a single marketplace for digital assets, tokenized equities, and new instruments such as prediction markets and . The company has framed the initiative as an evolution toward a more diverse, institutional-grade product lineup.
In September, Coinbase acqui-hired the founders of Sensible, a yield-earning platform, to strengthen its trading and yield infrastructure. Benchmark’s analyst Mark Palmer reaffirmed a “purchase” rating and a $421 price target last month, describing Coinbase’s strategy as “powerfully levered to a crypto bull cycle.”
The move into derivatives is a key part of that strategy. Institutional clients increasingly demand tools for hedging and leveraged exposure as . Futures and options volumes have surged this year, led by offshore venues such as Binance and Deribit. Coinbase aims to capture that flow in a regulated U.S. setting.
Martin’s Goldman Background
At Goldman Sachs, Martin rose to partner level and played a leading role in the bank’s global markets division. She led projects across trading, technology, and consumer finance, including as head of enterprise partnerships, where she oversaw business development and product launches in credit cards, savings, and purchase-now-pay-later services. Her experience in large-scale financial products and partnerships is expected to strengthen Coinbase’s derivatives and institutional business units.
Coinbase’s derivatives arm already includes a regulated U.S. futures platform and a growing offshore platform that has been expanding listings and liquidity this year. Martin’s appointment is viewed internally as a way to bring traditional market structure and discipline to the business as it scales.
Investor Takeaway
Outlook for Coinbase’s Derivatives Ambitions
Coinbase’s derivatives volumes remain small compared with offshore competitors, but the company has said regulated markets are its long-term focus. With the moving toward clearer oversight of digital asset derivatives, Coinbase views an opening to attract institutions that prefer transparent counterparties over unregulated venues.
The appointment of Martin, along with recent acquisitions and analyst endorsements, reinforces Coinbase’s effort to build credibility with professional traders and traditional finance firms. Whether the “Everything platform” vision can deliver the identical liquidity as offshore platforms remains to be viewn, but the firm’s recruitment of seasoned Wall Street talent suggests it intends to compete directly for that business.
