(Bloomberg) -- Coinbase Global Inc. has strengthened its European senior ranks to help lead its expansion plans in the region even as conditions for cryptocurrency exchanges continue to toughen globally. 

Cormac Dinan, who was a general manager at Crypto.com, has joined Coinbase as country director for Ireland, the company said in a statement. Michael Schroeder, former chief compliance and risk officer at Bittrex, will join the crypto exchange as director of controls for Germany. 

Coinbase also promoted Elke Karskens as new country director in UK and Patrick Elyas as director of market expansion in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The recent hires follow the appointment last month of Daniel Seifert, a senior executive from German financial technology company Solarisbank AG, as regional managing director for EMEA. 

Coinbase’s expansion plans in the region come as cryptocurrency exchanges face a crisis of confidence following the swift collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.com. Shaken by FTX’s swift demise users have rushed to yank out their cryptocurrencies from exchanges, recent data show.

FTX’s unraveling and fears of further contagion have worsened conditions for cryptocurrency platforms which had already been suffering from a rout in prices since May. Coinbase laid off more than a thousand of its staff earlier this year because of a bear market and its stock has fallen around 82% since the start of the year. 

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