Coinbase in Latin America: Crypto Adoption & Regional Strategy

The BeInCrypto Brazil team exclusively interviewed Guilherme Bettanin, head of Coinbase in Latin America.

The executive of the largest American exchange revealed expansion plans for the Base ecosystem — a blockchain of Layer 2 — in Brazil, and strategies to connect local projects with acceleration opportunities and global financing. Look at the details.

BeInCrypto: Guilherme, you assumed the position of Country Lead of Coinbase in Brazil six months ago and now you lead all of Latin America. What are your strategic priorities for the first 12 months, in this first year of leadership here?

Guilherme Bettanin: I would divide the priorities into three main areas. I have already worked a lot on the first two in the last six months. The first is to attract new developers and new projects to our blockchain.

This involves highly focused work on education, knowledge and supporting new startups to go from zero to one, participating in hackathons and finding support on both the business and technical sides.

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We connect these people and teams into our global system to support startups and individual contributors, and help the community build things together and launch projects on Base.

The second area is to help teams go from one (01) to ten. An example was the Founder House Base in Florianópolis, in November 2025.

We brought 15 startups from Latin America to Brazil to connect them with venture capital funds, fundraising mentors, and growth mentors in the crypto space. They are startups that already had a product running on the mainnet, with some traction, revenue and operations underway.

The idea was to create an environment where founders could have quality time with people who are normally very difficult to reach, without pressure, in conversations of 30 minutes, one hour, even two hours. We are already seeing impact on the strategy and traction of several teams that participated.

And the third area, which will gain more importance in the next six months, is a greater focus on the retail audience. It’s about attracting end users to the ecosystem, to Base, to the Base App and to the applications that are already in Base. We want to help these projects have even more presence in the Brazilian market.

BeInCrypto: In practice, what does “foster the Base ecosystem” mean in Brazil? How does that translate into concrete actions? And, in the case of Founder House, why Florianópolis?

Guilherme Bettanin: Regarding the presence in Brazil, it is not just about Florianópolis. We created a network of ambassadors and collaborators throughout Brazil, working in Florianópolis, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and other states. The idea is to be present in different poles.

We are also always at the country’s main crypto events and traditional technology events. For example, I went to the E-Commerce Forum to talk about cryptocurrencies. It was an environment with few people from the sector, but tens of thousands of people interested in learning, exemplifies the Coinbase executive.

Founder House in Florianópolis happened for two reasons. The first was logistics. It was held the week before Devconnect and we wanted to create a route south, towards Buenos Aires, Argentina. There was a gap between Ethereum Week and Devconnect, and that week Ethereum Floripa was held. It was not a traditional conference, but almost a retreat for builders. It fit perfectly.

The second reason is that Florianópolis has a large crypto community and initiatives already existed there. I am from Florianópolis and I have worked to strengthen the local ecosystem. In 2022, I helped found and foster one of the first physical crypto hubs in the city, Hub 9.3, and that year we welcomed over 150 builders.

So, bringing together local energy with this international calendar made a lot of sense. Additionally, we wanted to take founders out of the “hurricane” of big events and into a more immersive place, conducive to deep conversations and real connections.

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BeInCrypto: You already said that you are convinced that Base is the ideal ecosystem for Brazilian builders. What makes Brazil a strategic market for Base?

Guilherme Bettanin: Brazil is strategic for several reasons. First, I can also say this from my experience as a founder.

I know how the large global ecosystems have left Latin America and Brazil aside for a long time. For a Latin developer, it is much more difficult to get global attention, be taken seriously and show talent and ability to compete with players from other regions. There is a stigma about Latin America that does not match reality.

We have a great concentration of talent. There are very dedicated people, eager to build and grow. We (Brazil) have a greater need. We are always building in search of innovation!

And in my opinion, there is no other ecosystem that can help founders with distribution like Base does. The platform provides startup support, global connections, credibility and access to big players, in part because it is connected to Coinbase. This opens doors for founders here who historically had difficulty accessing them.

In crypto since 2017, Guilherme also said that he went through all the stages from a builder who did not even have money to buy a ticket to participate in hackathons, to forming a team of 20 people and building a protocol that grew significantly to more than 100,000 users.

“On top of that, internally, there is a real focus on Latin America. It’s not just talk. There is a strong belief that truly globally relevant protocols can emerge from here, and this guides the initiatives we have been implementing.”

BeInCrypto:And regarding the profile of Brazilian developers, what most coincides with Base’s vision?

Guilherme Bettanin: I like to use “builders” instead of “developers” because when we talk only about developers, it seems that we exclude non-technical builders, such as those who work with community, events, marketing, and that is essential for the ecosystem.

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What makes a builder stand out is “being Base” in attitude. It is about wanting to add, contribute, contribute positively, be adaptable, understand what is happening in the market and adjust the solution to that. It also implies being willing to listen, being humble, wanting to learn and build together. We look for people who truly want to be helped, because we can help these talents succeed.

It also catches my attention to see developers who understand the ecosystem, take advantage of opportunities and connect strategies to grow in Base. Thus, they manage to take advantage of the available opportunities, connecting dots, protocols and strategies to grow even more with us.

BeInCrypto: Now speaking of acceleration, distribution and financing, what support do Coinbase and Base offer for founders and builders? How does the support “ladder” work?

Guilherme Bettanin: We have a wide path of support. Start at the experimentation stage. In this phase, there are airdrops for builders. The airdrop program can offer 1 to 5 ETH, which today is equivalent to approximately $15,000. It is focused on small teams that need structure to get off the ground. The airdrop depends on traction, maturity and what they have already built.

In addition, we organize meetups to connect these teams with important people in the ecosystem and we offer “builder hours” with venture capital funds and top investors to provide feedback and guidance. There are also hackathons and initiatives that help the project to structure itself.

When the experiment becomes a project, it can enter Base Batches, our global incubation and acceleration program. There are two paths: the builders track, which works like a hackathon with a build and delivery period, and the startups track, where we evaluate progress and connect directly with growth funds and mentors.

At Base Batches, we have already distributed up to $1 million in prizes per edition. We have already done two editions and the trend is to continue. Then, when the project is more structured and has more traction, incentives are provided on a case-by-case basis. Thus, we can connect with Coinbase Ventures, which is a separate team from Base, as well as with the main VCs in the crypto world.

We also offer newsletters for investors, direct connections and support in the growth and distribution strategy, including promotion on official Base channels, such as build on Base, and on regional pages such as Base Brasil.

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The logic is simple: a small airdrop, alone, does not solve the problem. A founder who wants to be successful needs more capital, fundraising support, mentoring, and distribution. That is what makes the project arrive, stay and grow at Base.

BeInCrypto: For those who want to get started, what are the fastest ways for a Brazilian builder to enter the ecosystem? Is there a resource center?

Guilherme Bettanin: Yes. We are creating Notion pages for each country, and this is becoming a global initiative.

In the case of Brazil, there is a dashboard where resources are gathered for Brazilian builders to start at Base: from participating in hackathons, seeking support and financing, to growth paths. There you can understand where to go, if you need to fill out a form, talk directly to me or to an ambassador.

Also, we have Discord. There is a Brazilian server and a global server. On the global server, technical support is concentrated and we usually respond quickly, usually the same day.

BeInCrypto: Do ​​you think we will see more Brazilian startups migrating to Base or new native projects emerging from local initiatives?

Guilherme Bettanin: Both. From my experience over the last six or seven months, I have seen many startups migrating to Base from other ecosystems, leaving one ecosystem and focusing entirely on Base for their growth and future plans. I also see many multichain projects realizing that they cannot stay outside of Base and increasing their commitment to the ecosystem.

And, at the same time, new projects are emerging that are born in Base, natively, from the beginning, influenced by what we have been doing.

An interesting example is a case—I’m not going to mention the ecosystem—but it was a project that was in another ecosystem with a certain amount of TVL that had been stagnant for six months. In three months, within Base, it grew 10x and still maintained that other ecosystem.

BeInCrypto: To conclude, looking at the adoption and maturity of the Brazilian market, how do you see Brazil’s role in Web3 within Latin America, especially with the most recent regulations?

Guilherme Bettanin: I am not an expert in regulations, but in terms of adoption and the regional role, I see Brazil as a leader in Latin America. Brazil is at the forefront of regulatory advances, and clarity has been increasing. As an American company, Coinbase works closely with regulators, seeking this dialogue