Oluwadamilare
Seven years in Stablecoins, Marketing, and Ecosystem Growth

Damilare Aregbesola

Institutional growth operator with a track record of leading Go-To-Market strategies for infrastructure products & ecosystems, with a core focus on revenue.

Companies I've worked with
Coinbase Polygon Labs Blockchain.com Nestcoin Nigerian Exchange Group Prudential Bank
Let's talk
Portrait of Damilare Aregbesola

The Track-Record

What seven years adds up to
$200M+ USDC moved through African businesses building on Base; accounts taken from zero usage to live revenue lines.
$3B Cross-border stablecoin opportunity developed with the African Export-Import Bank and four of the continent's largest fintechs.
$151M cNGN onchain volume, with supply grown from zero to $1.7M; one of only two regulated local stablecoins live in Africa.
#1 Global market for Base App at launch; Nigeria, 100,000 sign-ups, ahead of the United States.
5,400 Developers onboarded from 43 countries in a single Polygon campaign; the largest campaign Polygon DevRel had run.
52 African markets covered as the primary point of contact; every campaign, partnership and appearance in region.
5 Startups building on Base funded by Coinbase Ventures and other venture-capital partners; investment driven into each.

The Work

Everywhere I've done it; open a card for detail
Coinbase

Base Ecosystem Growth, EMEA

Drove $200M+ in USDC transaction volume through African businesses building on Base, converting zero-usage accounts into recurring, revenue-generating integrations. Worked alongside the Central Bank of Nigeria, Tanzania's pilot teams, and the issuers behind cNGN and nTZS; the only regulated local stablecoins live in Africa.

Stablecoins & ecosystem
Polygon Labs

Developer Marketing Manager, Africa

Designed and ran the Polygon Africa Bootcamp with Chainlink, Alchemy and The Graph: 5,400 developers from 43 countries; the largest campaign Polygon DevRel had run to that point. Held commercial and ecosystem coverage across 52 African markets; closed partnerships with five of the continent's largest developer communities, ten media houses, and advanced two major African fintechs through integration.

Developer growth
Blockchain.com

Community Marketing Lead

Drafted and executed the bottom-up GTM plan for Africa entry: 2,100 users into the community within 48 hours of launch. Sourced institutional partnership opportunities with on-ramp and off-ramp providers, the binding constraint on African retail conversion, and managed the relationship layer between the brand and external stakeholders.

Consumer GTM
Nestcoin

Developer Marketer

Developer marketing for an African-built consumer and payments portfolio.

Developer marketing
CD Security

Marketing Strategy Consultant

Negotiated a $500K partnership making CD Security an official security partner and mentor for the Polygon Village Program.

Partnerships
Nigerian Exchange Group

Sales Support Analyst

Built and managed the relationship between the Exchange and publicly listed companies; pitched Factbook placements to 150 listed-company executives, with the team converting 40% to income. Contributed to the first digitised stock market Factbook in West Africa, featured on CNBC; supported stock trading training for brokers and handled broker and issuer enquiries.

Capital markets
Prudential Bank

Investment & Economic Research

Conducted investment appraisals and valuations, built financial models, and prepared debt and equity market research and economic summary reports.

Research

What That Looked Like

Three places, in detail
Coinbase
Base & USDC

Co-led Base's ecosystem work across Africa, then EMEA

  • Drove USDC transaction volume through African businesses building on Base; moving accounts from zero usage to live revenue lines.$200M+
  • Worked alongside issuers and regulators on cNGN and nTZS, the only regulated local stablecoins live in Africa; issuer readiness, reserve and compliance posture, and local banking connectivity.$151M onchain
  • Built working relationships with the African Export-Import Bank and four of the continent's largest fintechs around USDC integration; remittance corridors, continental trade, FX and enterprise payouts.$3B opportunity
  • Made Nigeria the #1 global market for Base App at launch, ahead of the United States.100,000 sign-ups
  • Grew the Base ecosystem in Africa from zero to six breakout products across payments, remittances and consumer apps.0 → 6
$200M+ USDC moved
Polygon Labs
Africa GTM

Ran Polygon's Africa Go-To-Market end to end

  • Designed and ran the Polygon Africa Bootcamp with Chainlink, Alchemy and The Graph; the largest campaign Polygon DevRel had run to that point.5,400 devs · 43 countries
  • Acted as Polygon's primary point of contact for 52 African markets; every in-region campaign, partnership conversation and conference appearance.52 markets
  • Closed partnerships with five of the continent's largest developer communities and ten media houses; advanced two major African fintechs through integration.5 + 10 + 2
  • Represented Polygon publicly with regulators, governments and enterprises evaluating the chain for deployment.Gov & enterprise
5,400 Developers onboarded
Blockchain.com
Africa launch

Owned the Blockchain.com Wallet's Africa launch

  • Took the wallet to market in Africa through KOL activation and on-the-ground partnerships; 2,100 community members in the first 48 hours.2,100 / 48 hrs
  • Ran the relationship layer between Blockchain.com and African retail users; partnerships, escalations and product feedback into HQ.Retail layer
  • Sourced and managed institutional partnerships with on-ramp and off-ramp providers; the actual bottleneck for African retail UX.On/off-ramp
2,100 Community members in 48 hours

The Rooms I'm In

Who sits on the other side of the table
Central Bank of NigeriaIssuer ↔ regulator · cNGN
African Export-Import BankCross-border corridors
Tier-one African fintechsRemittance · trade · FX · payouts
Local stablecoin issuersLATAM · Asia · Middle-East
Developer communities & foundersNigeria · Kenya · South Africa

What I Actually Do

The parts I'm known for

Skills

Developer MarketingBusiness Development Government RelationsPublic Speaking Stablecoins & Remittances

Markets

EuropeMiddle-EastAfrica

Writing

Documenting the process behind the results
Article

cNGN: the untold story behind the only crypto product under Nigeria's SEC & CBN oversight

One thing Africa has begun to excel at is pulling social attention into what we do as an ecosystem. What we've failed at is documenting the process behind the results we claim.

Read on X
Article · 150K views

Life after Coinbase: what comes next?

Yesterday, I was excitedly planning how to break the news that Lava VC had invested into LEDiG, another founder on Base, as their first corporate investor. Today, I find myself writing something else entirely.

Read on X

Press & Podcasts

Where the work has been covered, and where I have talked about it
Damilare Aregbesola on the Positive Thoughts Podcast Positive Thoughts Podcast

Base West Africa Lead: Africa's Web3 Isn't Underfunded — It's Misfocused

Podcast Mariblock Sidebar interview with Damilare Aregbesola Mariblock

Sidebar: Coinbase's four-step plan for African builders

Interview Technext interview with Damilare Aregbesola Technext

Damilare Aregbesola speaks on how Polygon intends to place Africa on the global blockchain map

Interview TechTrends Kenya interview with Damilare Aregbesola TechTrends Kenya

We're driving Web3 adoption in Africa, Polygon's Damilare says

Interview TechCabal article on Timon TechCabal

Timon is leveraging Base to drive payments for nomads

Quoted