Brian Armstrong Talks Future of Digital Assets
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News. You are coming off a big year. Coinbase joined the S&P 500. Congress ushered in first federal framework for stablecoins. I walked past your house in Davos and it said the future of finance is here.
Thank you for repeating the slogan.
Is it really, really here though or is there a long ways to go?
It is here. 2025 was a massive year for crypto. We started to get regulatory clarity, finally, in the US. So we got the Genius Act passed. In the wake of that, we saw 200 companies announce stablecoin integrations. Financial institutions are adopting this at an insane rate. We now power crypto infrastructure for five of the top 20 largest banks in the world. It's not just a US phenomenon. We're seeing incredible adoption of crypto in emerging markets where people have high inflation. And stablecoins are on a tear, not to mention prediction markets, et cetera, et cetera. So I do think that we're at a breakout moment for crypto. And yeah, it's a big opportunity.
So who is your second year in Davos, right?
Yeah.
Who are you meeting with? What are your priorities for 2026?
Well, we're meeting with world leaders to talk about economic freedom and how crypto can help update their financial system. We're meeting with central bank governors to talk about what they should do with stablecoins. But probably the most interesting one group that I'm meeting with here are other bank CEOs, because we are having this moment in DC about getting market structure legislation passed. And the bill has made good progress. It got a strong bipartisan vote in the House. It's now being deliberated in the Senate. And there was a little bit of a blow up last week.
What are the latest developments in the crypto regulatory landscape?
I don't know if you- A little bit of a blow up? All right, let's go there. Yeah. It seemed like a big blow up, but you pulled your support for the bill.
For that current draft? Yes. Yes.
Why?
Well, there was too many giveaways to TradFi, if I can say that. Our view is that there should be a level playing field for this is allowed, this is not allowed, and then all the US companies compete. And banks didn't like that. They were, in my view, like the commercial sides of these banks are very smart, and the CEOs get it, and they're talking to us about integrating crypto. The bank lobbying groups and bank associations are out there trying to ban their competition. And I have zero tolerance for that. I think it's un-American. It harms consumers. And the banks need competition. They need to innovate. We also saw this from some of the securities broker lobbying groups, because tokenized equities are a big thing happening in crypto.
So there was three or four red line issues we saw in the draft text. And as I was in DC that day meeting with members of the Senate, I asked them, OK, is there a path to fix this after it comes out of committee? And they basically told me behind closed doors, if this comes out of committee with a bipartisan vote, we can't really help you on the full Senate floor. And so I felt like I had to stand up and say something defending our customers' rights. I was careful not to opine on what the Senate should do in terms of a markup or not, and I was careful not to say anything. We don't represent the whole crypto industry, but from a Coinbase point of view, I was not comfortable with the draft text as written, and I'm glad that everyone came back for another round of negotiation.
Well, other people have been saying stuff. So since we're going here now, a journalist from Crypto in America said a White House source told her this is President Trump's bill, not Brian Armstrong's bill at the end of the day, and that the White House is going to pull out if you don't come back to the table.
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