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The Bitcoin start-up Coinbase is bolstering its team as it seeks to deepen its engagement with regulators.

The company, one of the most popular digital wallet providers, has hired John Collins, a former adviser to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, as its head of government affairs. Mr. Collins, who focused on digital currency, will work with lawmakers and public officials on policy decisions related to virtual money.

“Bitcoin is an extremely powerful technology,” said Fred Ehrsam, a co-founder of Coinbase. “As the leader in the space, our main goal is to educate people who are going to form the regulations around it in its formative years so its potential remains.”

Coinbase’s moves comes as Bitcoin start-ups have been uncertain of what potential regulations will be coming. In July, for example, New York became the first state to issue proposed rules for digital currency companies. The public comment period on the BitLicense regulations is set to end next week. Bitcoin has also attracted the attention of other prominent regulatory agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Many Bitcoin companies have adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward regulations. Some, like the start-up Coinapult, based in Panama City, have chosen to avoid operating in the United States until regulations become clearer. Others, like Circle, have been vocal about the effect ill-informed regulations could have on the industry.

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But as changes are proposed, Coinbase has tried to persuade regulators of its views on new Bitcoin policies. Its leaders have met with various government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCen, to help inform the discussions about digital currency, Mr. Ehrsam said.

Coinbase’s desire to insert itself into the regulatory conversation is motivated, in part, by self-interest. As a wallet provider and payment processor, the company’s core businesses are in some ways dependent on how government agencies decide to treat the currency. But the company insists it is trying to preserve the core values of Bitcoin and ensure that it continues to be an open platform that anyone can use.

Mr. Collins previously worked for Thomas R. Carper, Democrat of Delaware and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which held the first congressional hearing on digital currencies last November.

At Coinbase, which is based in San Francisco, Mr. Collins said he wanted to “build a larger coalition of folks” who understood Bitcoin’s potential, including government officials. Most important, he said, will be to educate regulators about Bitcoin so they adopt rules that protect customers without hampering innovation.

“Coinbase’s whole mission is to really make Bitcoin easy to understand and easy to use,” Mr. Collins said. “We really do believe that this technology has a lot of promise in this sector and other sectors.”