Crypto Power Move: Coinbase’s Michael Rihani Takes Helm at Brazil’s Nubank to Revolutionize Digital Assets

Wall Street's loss is crypto's gain as another heavyweight jumps ship to digital finance.

THE BRAZILIAN GAMBIT

Michael Rihani—formerly of Coinbase's institutional arm—just landed at Nubank to spearhead their crypto division. The move signals Latin America's largest digital bank is doubling down on blockchain while traditional finance scrambles to catch up.

CRYPTO'S BRAIN DRAIN ACCELERATES

Top talent keeps fleeing legacy institutions for digital asset frontiers. Rihani's leap follows a pattern of executives abandoning Wall Street's outdated playbooks for blockchain's real-world applications.

NUBANK'S BILLION-USER BET

With over 90 million customers across Brazil and Mexico, Nubank represents crypto's next massive adoption frontier. The appointment positions the neobank to dominate LatAm's burgeoning digital economy.

Because let's be honest—traditional banks are still trying to figure out how blockchain works while charging you $25 for a wire transfer.

Product leader from Silicon Valley 

Rihani brings experience from technology companies like Apple, Tesla, Cash App, and Coinbase. Before this new role, he served as a product director at the crypto exchange, while in Tesla and Cash App he worked on the company’s Bitcoin payment integration. Earlier, he was part of the teams that developed Apple Pay and the Apple Card.

In a post on X, Rihani stated he is dedicating his career to bitcoin and improving the world’s financial system. According to the company, he views Nubank as the ideal place to build products with significant impact.

Thrilled to share that I’ve joined @Nubank (NYSE: NU) as Head of Crypto.

Nubank is one of the largest digital financial services platforms in the world with over 123M customers, more than 60% of Brazilian adults as customers, a $75B+ market cap, and 80%+ of its growth comes from… pic.twitter.com/RWuQc4Jjrb

“Over the past few years, I’ve dedicated my career to Bitcoin and improving the world’s financial system,” said Michael Rihani. “If you want to build something new and impactful, there’s no better place than Nubank. Nubank Crypto has become one of the most competitive options on the market, and it’s a privilege to work with a team committed to redefining the future of money,” the executive says.

Nubank’s crypto ambitions

Rihani will now lead the Nubank Cripto, a platform which allows users to buy, sell, and store digital assets. The platform currently serves six and a half million customers, according to information from the company.

This strategic hire follows other recent crypto-focused initiatives from the digital bank. The appointment comes shortly after the company enabled customers to pay credit card bills using Bitcoin, indicating an expansion of its digital asset services.

Rihani’s move from a US crypto exchange to a Brazilian-headquartered fintech shows how emerging countries are investing in external expertise for their growing technology sector. The appointment may be seen as a validation of the region’s market potential for widespread cryptocurrency adoption, given Nubank’s large user base. Since the fintech is advancing on digital assets plans, this hiring is aligned with what the bank has been showing. 

Also read: Nubank to Test Dollar-Backed Stablecoin Payments via Credit Cards