May 14, 2025 • 14 mins
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says being added to the S&P 500 Index proves crypto is here to stay. The company replaces Discover Financial Services in the index next week. He also talks about the expanded use of crypto payments and the status of a stablecoin regulation bill that is moving through the Senate. He speaks to Bloomberg's Sonali Basak.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Another company we've been keeping a close eye on is
Coinbase and it's set to join the S and P
five hundred next week. The company's CEO has also been
calling for lawmakers to pass a stable coin bill. A
lot of the financial industry watching that bill very very closely.
We are joined now by Coinbas's CEO who's on Capitol
Hill right now, Brian Armstrong. And Brian, thanks for joining
(00:29):
us while you're doing your trip at the hill. But
first we have to really start with your big moment,
which is at S and P five hundred inclusion. You
have been focusing here on expanding your world in financial services.
Discover was taken out, you're added in. What does it
say about the moment?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, well, it's a huge moment for crypto to now
be in the S and P five hundred with Coinbase entering,
and it means that crypto is here to say, people
are going to have crypto exposure in all their four
oh one k's and it points a little bit to
I think where the future of financial services is going.
Cryptos a technology to update the financial system. We actually
launched our own index coin fifty, which is the top
(01:09):
fifty crypto assets market cap weighted, and someday we hope
people might actually, you know, feel the same way about
getting the S and P five hundreds of getting in
the coin fifty index.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So it's a great moment.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
We were talking a little earlier about e Toro's ipl You
see other entrants like that come into public markets, wondering
what it means for you because e Toro is not
going to be the only one in terms of entering
that crypto versus stocks world. Do you think coinbase will
ever get into traditional way equity trading, or at least
tokenized equity trading in a much larger way.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, well, we think that all asset classes are being
tokenized crypto. Again, it's this technology to update the financial system.
That means every company, every fintech, every bank, every payment company,
even non financial service companies are going to be integrating
crypto payments. It's kind of like when the Internet came out,
and first you had dot com startups and then comp
every fortune five hundred company uses the Internet. So we
(02:04):
think it's going to be very similar and actually this
is a good thing for coinbase because many of these
companies when they come to crypto, they're going to.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Buy our products and services.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We actually power crypto custody trading payments, especially with stable coins,
which is a big new emerging activity for lots of
companies already, and so we're excited about that happening now
on you specifically asked about tokenized equities. We're excited about those,
and we want to lean into the crypto native solutions,
not trade traditional securities in the way that many other
(02:32):
companies do. We think there's unique advantages to having this
come on chain, and so we're excited to explore that.
We've We've met with, for instance, the sec Task Force
on this recently, and there seems to be a general
willingness to have these kind of asset classes come on chain.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Now let's stay posted on that front. Of course, there's
a big question on how soon that could happen now,
Brian stable coins, because part of the discussion that is
looming large in Washington is of course that stable coin bill.
Now call a trip I made down to Coinbase's New
York offices. I spoke with one of your deputies, Jesse Pollock,
and he showed me the way that people are transacting
(03:07):
on Coinbase via stable coin, often at no fee. I'm
really wondering from your perspective to the extent that when
you see a bill passed, how much that could set
off stable coin payments, peer to peer payments in a
way that's cheaper than the financial industry does it today.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, well, you're right.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Stable coin adoption, for like USDC, it has grown enormously
and a lot of it's happening on Base, which is
a layer two solution that Coinbase helped create. So it's
a very exciting moment where we're seeing stable coin adoption. Now,
we also need to make sure that this technology gets
built here in the US, and that's what this stable
coin bill is really about.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
It's a historic moment.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
There's a lot of interest from senators on both sides
of the isle that I've met with today to get
this legislation done, and that's what we're here to try
and help do.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Now. The details matter, and there's bits of language.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
That are being to go siated right up into the
last minute, but we're here to try to underscore the
urgency of this and the fifty two million Americans who've
used crypto really want to see this legislation get passed
so that this industry can get built here on shore
in America.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Well, you say words matter. What are the words now
that you would want to see changed as it hits
the final finish line?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, I mean there's a couple examples for you.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
One is that you know, DeFi is something that is
separate from financial services. We don't think it should be
included in AML provisions. AML provisions make a lot of
sense applied to the centralized intermediaries like exchanges and custodians,
things that coinbases core business, but DeFi should be excluded
from that, and recent language updates we've seen seem to
(04:39):
indicate that that's.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
The path they're going on.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
One other area for you to think about is there
are some prohibitions on paying interest and yield in some
of the drafts or some of the language that we
were made aware of. We think that this is a
you know, banks should have to compete on a level
playing field with crypto. We think that paying interest in
yield to customers is good, is a consumer benefit. We
actually think to American consumers should be able to benefit
from that, and any company, whether your bank, crypto company,
(05:04):
should be able to compete on that front.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Now there's a.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Lot of debate back and forth about that, but these
are examples of the kinds of issues that are coming
down into the line. We want to make sure that
you know perfect is not the enemy of good enough,
and getting this legislation passed is the highest priority.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I'm wondering where you see this going. We've even heard
from the Bank of America CEO saying that they would
see a Bank of America stable coin one day. Once
you see this bill pass Now, for you, would you
be considering issuing a stable coin at coinbase.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
But we have a great partnership with Circle on USDC,
and so that's the primary stable coin that we like
to advocate for. We think it's the fastest growing major
stable coin, it's the most trusted, it's the most compliant.
But to your point about you know, the bank CEOs,
et cetera, we want everyone to succeed here. We think
that banks should be able to participate in stable coins.
It's a huge opportunity and we want to make sure
(05:55):
any potential legislation doesn't prohibit them or us from doing that.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
So Circle for a moment, Circle is in talks to
go public do you think anything will change with your
relationship once it becomes a public company, And frankly, would
you ever consider buying Circle? I mean, your relationship with
the company has gotten so close, why not just have
it in house?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, well, we're very excited for their success.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
USDC has been an enormous outcome, and so they deserve
a ton of.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Credit for that.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Them going public doesn't change anything about our commercial relationship.
But in terms of other deals we might consider in
the future, I mean that of course would be up
to them in US but you know, nothing to announce today.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Are you actively looking at other acquisition targets now? You
made a lot of news recently with the Derabiit acquisition. Hankkit,
I will ask you about that, but there is a
question about how much more dry powder you have to
do more.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah, we're always looking at M and A opportunities. You know,
we do have a pretty large balance sheet that could
be put to use here, and of course, part of
the benefit of being a public company now and yes
five hundred is that you have somewhat of a liquid
currency to do that. So we're looking at acquisition opportunities constantly.
It doesn't mean we swing at every pitch, we want
it to be the right opportunity, because the hard part
(07:12):
is not buying the company, it's actually successfully integrating it.
But we've made a number of acquisitions recently. For instance,
on Base, we acquired a couple of startups. We're looking
at international opportunities that could aggregate share companies that do
things similar do we do, and then also things that
could just accelerate our product.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Roadmap on derebit. Very curious, of course, this was one
of the larger acquisitions we've seen in the crypto community,
a very very milestone moment for coinbase as well. It's
a derivative exchange, and do you expect it to win
approval to operate in the US? If so, how soon?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, you're correct.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So it is a derivatives exchange, and that's a big
push for US. International derivatives trading has been a huge
area for crypto. It's the vast majority of all crypt
trading volume actions and we are excited to do that
both internationally where we operate, and eventually to bring it
into the US. I don't have an exact timeframe for
you on that, but we believe that having spot trading
(08:09):
options and futures all on one unified platform, and we
can be the trusted counterparty to these traders. That's going
to be a winning solution both in the US and internationally.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
So what about the future a little more. I'm really
curious about how you're viewing the tone coming out of
Washington when it comes to the future of crypto. What
do you think, besides the table, the stable coin Bill
will be the biggest change in the industry over the
next four years.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, well, getting legislation passed, of course, would be a
huge milestone with stable coins and then and market structure
as I mentioned, But I think the other big opportunity
on the horizon right now is that stable coins are
and payments are becoming a bigger and bigger area of
the economy. I mean, I think ultimately stable coins will
power the majority of all payments in global GDP or
(08:59):
in the economy large and crypto is going to become
the majority of the financial system. It is updating the
financial system in many ways, so that's going to happen
across you know, revitalizing our credit markets. There's features that
coinbase has launched recently, like defive borrow lend, which got
over one hundred million dollars in loans in one hundred days.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
It's growing like wildfire.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It's going to update the capital formation markets, how people
raise money to start a company or to build an
apartment complex. It's going to tokenize traditional securities, bring them
online for twenty four to seven trading, allowing people markets
all over the world to have a level playing field
and participate in those So, whether it's payments, credit, securities
(09:43):
in a new gold standard, you know, with bitcoin, I
think crypto truly is updating the financial system, and we're
going to get to this world eventually where there's a
transnational economy that is not controlled by any one country.
The long tail of fiat currencies probably don't need to exist,
they could be replaced by bitcoin, but the major ones,
we'll each have stable coins which are thriving. So it's
(10:04):
a bright future if we can update the financial system
and create more economic freedom for people.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Brian, I'm curious about the conversation around a US strategic
Bitcoin reserve. More so, I'm also curious whether coinbase will
be the custodian.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Well, it's definitely a historic moment for the United States
of America to declare bitcoin as a strategic asset. That
was a huge moment I think underappreciated in the markets actually,
And you know, I believe that they're going through an
RFP process now, and we're of course throwing our hat
in the ring to hopefully be that provider there. You know,
we actually provide crypto services, whether that's custody or trading
(10:39):
to over one hundred and forty government institutions at the federal, state,
local level, not just in here in the US, but
in other countries as well. So I think we would
be the perverred provider, I hope. But we'll throw our
hat in the ring and they should run a fair
and orderly process.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
It's interesting because you see very mixed responses from people
across the crypto community around the administration's approach to crypto,
but particularly the president's approach to crypto. Bloomberg recently reported
that the top buyers of the meme coin that are
buying for seats at the White House dinner or the
(11:14):
President's dinner. For those meme coin holders, many of these
buyers are likely foreign based on what we have seen
of the purchasers of these coins. Now, from your perspective,
what does this say about how much activity has moved
offshore and does it create an issue for the way
that crypto is evolving on shore in the United States.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, well, I'm not sure about the numbers specifically on
the Trump meme coin, but I know that written large,
the crypto industry has largely moved offshore from the US
because of the lack of clarity of rules in the
last four or five years, especially, so I'd say it's
roughly eighty percent.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Offshore at this point.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
And for people who care about national security rules law,
you know, that's a huge issue. We need to make
sure that this gets brought onshore into the regulatory perimeter.
And whether people that love crypto or hate crypto, they
should be for legislation which does that. And that's a
lot of what these urgency of these bills getting passed,
even including the stable coin bill tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
What do you make more largely to the president's approj
on crypto. There are people who are on one hand,
are very happy that he's pushing the initiatives forward in
the United States, but there are also people who are
frustrated that his own projects are taking finances money away
from other projects, well.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
From our perspective, We've been very happy with the President's
approchon crypto. I mean, he said that he wants the
US to be the crypto capital of the world. He's
told Congress that he wants this legislation both for stable
coins and market structure to be.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Passed before the August recess.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
You know, declaring a strategic bitcoin reserve here in the
US was an incredible milestone. So from our point of view,
it could not be a better outcome versus what we
saw over the last four years, where the lack of
clarity was really weaponized togat inst the industry. But what's
positive is that crypto is truly bipartisan. I mean, the
President's leadership here has been amazing, but I think that
(13:08):
Congress and especially in the Senate, the folks I talk
to you, there's now a strong bipartisan majority of people
who want to see pro crypto legislation get passed.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Right, I want to start off where we left off.
We're talking about other competitors in the space. E. Toro
being a new trading you know, publicly traded company, for example,
but also foreign companies that are entering the US potentially
because they're excited about lighter regulations or at least clearer
regulations and rules of the road. Do you see much
more competition ahead for Coinbase.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yes, I mean actually, I think that many different companies
are now coming into crypto with this regulatory clarity on
the horizon. And you know, one way to look at
that is you know, oh, no, there's too much competition.
The other way to look at it is I think
it's an incredible improvement because you know, you have to
remember in the past the industry is just being attacked.
Our competitors were more like FTI and these kinds of companies.
(14:01):
I'd much rather be in the world we're in now,
where we have lots of companies coming in and by
the way, those are all potential customers of our products
and services. So to me, I just see tam expansion
when I see regulatory clarity, I think it's a huge unlock.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Brian, we're looking forward to seeing where it all goes,
that is Coinbased CEO Brian Armstrong. Of course, during his
visit to Washington, we're looking forward to getting a readout
because of course the rules are changing under the ground
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Another company we've been keeping a close eye on is
Coinbase and it's set to join the S and P
five hundred next week. The company's CEO has also been
calling for lawmakers to pass a stable coin bill. A
lot of the financial industry watching that bill very very closely.
We are joined now by Coinbas's CEO who's on Capitol
Hill right now, Brian Armstrong. And Brian, thanks for joining
(00:29):
us while you're doing your trip at the hill. But
first we have to really start with your big moment,
which is at S and P five hundred inclusion. You
have been focusing here on expanding your world in financial services.
Discover was taken out, you're added in. What does it
say about the moment?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, well, it's a huge moment for crypto to now
be in the S and P five hundred with Coinbase entering,
and it means that crypto is here to say, people
are going to have crypto exposure in all their four
oh one k's and it points a little bit to
I think where the future of financial services is going.
Cryptos a technology to update the financial system. We actually
launched our own index coin fifty, which is the top
(01:09):
fifty crypto assets market cap weighted, and someday we hope
people might actually, you know, feel the same way about
getting the S and P five hundreds of getting in
the coin fifty index.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So it's a great moment.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
We were talking a little earlier about e Toro's ipl You
see other entrants like that come into public markets, wondering
what it means for you because e Toro is not
going to be the only one in terms of entering
that crypto versus stocks world. Do you think coinbase will
ever get into traditional way equity trading, or at least
tokenized equity trading in a much larger way.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, well, we think that all asset classes are being
tokenized crypto. Again, it's this technology to update the financial system.
That means every company, every fintech, every bank, every payment company,
even non financial service companies are going to be integrating
crypto payments. It's kind of like when the Internet came out,
and first you had dot com startups and then comp
every fortune five hundred company uses the Internet. So we
(02:04):
think it's going to be very similar and actually this
is a good thing for coinbase because many of these
companies when they come to crypto, they're going to.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Buy our products and services.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We actually power crypto custody trading payments, especially with stable coins,
which is a big new emerging activity for lots of
companies already, and so we're excited about that happening now
on you specifically asked about tokenized equities. We're excited about those,
and we want to lean into the crypto native solutions,
not trade traditional securities in the way that many other
(02:32):
companies do. We think there's unique advantages to having this
come on chain, and so we're excited to explore that.
We've We've met with, for instance, the sec Task Force
on this recently, and there seems to be a general
willingness to have these kind of asset classes come on chain.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Now let's stay posted on that front. Of course, there's
a big question on how soon that could happen now,
Brian stable coins, because part of the discussion that is
looming large in Washington is of course that stable coin bill.
Now call a trip I made down to Coinbase's New
York offices. I spoke with one of your deputies, Jesse Pollock,
and he showed me the way that people are transacting
(03:07):
on Coinbase via stable coin, often at no fee. I'm
really wondering from your perspective to the extent that when
you see a bill passed, how much that could set
off stable coin payments, peer to peer payments in a
way that's cheaper than the financial industry does it today.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, well, you're right.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Stable coin adoption, for like USDC, it has grown enormously
and a lot of it's happening on Base, which is
a layer two solution that Coinbase helped create. So it's
a very exciting moment where we're seeing stable coin adoption. Now,
we also need to make sure that this technology gets
built here in the US, and that's what this stable
coin bill is really about.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
It's a historic moment.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
There's a lot of interest from senators on both sides
of the isle that I've met with today to get
this legislation done, and that's what we're here to try
and help do.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Now. The details matter, and there's bits of language.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
That are being to go siated right up into the
last minute, but we're here to try to underscore the
urgency of this and the fifty two million Americans who've
used crypto really want to see this legislation get passed
so that this industry can get built here on shore
in America.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Well, you say words matter. What are the words now
that you would want to see changed as it hits
the final finish line?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, I mean there's a couple examples for you.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
One is that you know, DeFi is something that is
separate from financial services. We don't think it should be
included in AML provisions. AML provisions make a lot of
sense applied to the centralized intermediaries like exchanges and custodians,
things that coinbases core business, but DeFi should be excluded
from that, and recent language updates we've seen seem to
(04:39):
indicate that that's.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
The path they're going on.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
One other area for you to think about is there
are some prohibitions on paying interest and yield in some
of the drafts or some of the language that we
were made aware of. We think that this is a
you know, banks should have to compete on a level
playing field with crypto. We think that paying interest in
yield to customers is good, is a consumer benefit. We
actually think to American consumers should be able to benefit
from that, and any company, whether your bank, crypto company,
(05:04):
should be able to compete on that front.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Now there's a.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Lot of debate back and forth about that, but these
are examples of the kinds of issues that are coming
down into the line. We want to make sure that
you know perfect is not the enemy of good enough,
and getting this legislation passed is the highest priority.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I'm wondering where you see this going. We've even heard
from the Bank of America CEO saying that they would
see a Bank of America stable coin one day. Once
you see this bill pass Now, for you, would you
be considering issuing a stable coin at coinbase.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
But we have a great partnership with Circle on USDC,
and so that's the primary stable coin that we like
to advocate for. We think it's the fastest growing major
stable coin, it's the most trusted, it's the most compliant.
But to your point about you know, the bank CEOs,
et cetera, we want everyone to succeed here. We think
that banks should be able to participate in stable coins.
It's a huge opportunity and we want to make sure
(05:55):
any potential legislation doesn't prohibit them or us from doing that.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
So Circle for a moment, Circle is in talks to
go public do you think anything will change with your
relationship once it becomes a public company, And frankly, would
you ever consider buying Circle? I mean, your relationship with
the company has gotten so close, why not just have
it in house?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, well, we're very excited for their success.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
USDC has been an enormous outcome, and so they deserve
a ton of.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Credit for that.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Them going public doesn't change anything about our commercial relationship.
But in terms of other deals we might consider in
the future, I mean that of course would be up
to them in US but you know, nothing to announce today.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Are you actively looking at other acquisition targets now? You
made a lot of news recently with the Derabiit acquisition. Hankkit,
I will ask you about that, but there is a
question about how much more dry powder you have to
do more.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah, we're always looking at M and A opportunities. You know,
we do have a pretty large balance sheet that could
be put to use here, and of course, part of
the benefit of being a public company now and yes
five hundred is that you have somewhat of a liquid
currency to do that. So we're looking at acquisition opportunities constantly.
It doesn't mean we swing at every pitch, we want
it to be the right opportunity, because the hard part
(07:12):
is not buying the company, it's actually successfully integrating it.
But we've made a number of acquisitions recently. For instance,
on Base, we acquired a couple of startups. We're looking
at international opportunities that could aggregate share companies that do
things similar do we do, and then also things that
could just accelerate our product.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Roadmap on derebit. Very curious, of course, this was one
of the larger acquisitions we've seen in the crypto community,
a very very milestone moment for coinbase as well. It's
a derivative exchange, and do you expect it to win
approval to operate in the US? If so, how soon?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, you're correct.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So it is a derivatives exchange, and that's a big
push for US. International derivatives trading has been a huge
area for crypto. It's the vast majority of all crypt
trading volume actions and we are excited to do that
both internationally where we operate, and eventually to bring it
into the US. I don't have an exact timeframe for
you on that, but we believe that having spot trading
(08:09):
options and futures all on one unified platform, and we
can be the trusted counterparty to these traders. That's going
to be a winning solution both in the US and internationally.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
So what about the future a little more. I'm really
curious about how you're viewing the tone coming out of
Washington when it comes to the future of crypto. What
do you think, besides the table, the stable coin Bill
will be the biggest change in the industry over the
next four years.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, well, getting legislation passed, of course, would be a
huge milestone with stable coins and then and market structure
as I mentioned, But I think the other big opportunity
on the horizon right now is that stable coins are
and payments are becoming a bigger and bigger area of
the economy. I mean, I think ultimately stable coins will
power the majority of all payments in global GDP or
(08:59):
in the economy large and crypto is going to become
the majority of the financial system. It is updating the
financial system in many ways, so that's going to happen
across you know, revitalizing our credit markets. There's features that
coinbase has launched recently, like defive borrow lend, which got
over one hundred million dollars in loans in one hundred days.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
It's growing like wildfire.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It's going to update the capital formation markets, how people
raise money to start a company or to build an
apartment complex. It's going to tokenize traditional securities, bring them
online for twenty four to seven trading, allowing people markets
all over the world to have a level playing field
and participate in those So, whether it's payments, credit, securities
(09:43):
in a new gold standard, you know, with bitcoin, I
think crypto truly is updating the financial system, and we're
going to get to this world eventually where there's a
transnational economy that is not controlled by any one country.
The long tail of fiat currencies probably don't need to exist,
they could be replaced by bitcoin, but the major ones,
we'll each have stable coins which are thriving. So it's
(10:04):
a bright future if we can update the financial system
and create more economic freedom for people.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Brian, I'm curious about the conversation around a US strategic
Bitcoin reserve. More so, I'm also curious whether coinbase will
be the custodian.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Well, it's definitely a historic moment for the United States
of America to declare bitcoin as a strategic asset. That
was a huge moment I think underappreciated in the markets actually,
And you know, I believe that they're going through an
RFP process now, and we're of course throwing our hat
in the ring to hopefully be that provider there. You know,
we actually provide crypto services, whether that's custody or trading
(10:39):
to over one hundred and forty government institutions at the federal, state,
local level, not just in here in the US, but
in other countries as well. So I think we would
be the perverred provider, I hope. But we'll throw our
hat in the ring and they should run a fair
and orderly process.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
It's interesting because you see very mixed responses from people
across the crypto community around the administration's approach to crypto,
but particularly the president's approach to crypto. Bloomberg recently reported
that the top buyers of the meme coin that are
buying for seats at the White House dinner or the
(11:14):
President's dinner. For those meme coin holders, many of these
buyers are likely foreign based on what we have seen
of the purchasers of these coins. Now, from your perspective,
what does this say about how much activity has moved
offshore and does it create an issue for the way
that crypto is evolving on shore in the United States.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, well, I'm not sure about the numbers specifically on
the Trump meme coin, but I know that written large,
the crypto industry has largely moved offshore from the US
because of the lack of clarity of rules in the
last four or five years, especially, so I'd say it's
roughly eighty percent.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Offshore at this point.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
And for people who care about national security rules law,
you know, that's a huge issue. We need to make
sure that this gets brought onshore into the regulatory perimeter.
And whether people that love crypto or hate crypto, they
should be for legislation which does that. And that's a
lot of what these urgency of these bills getting passed,
even including the stable coin bill tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
What do you make more largely to the president's approj
on crypto. There are people who are on one hand,
are very happy that he's pushing the initiatives forward in
the United States, but there are also people who are
frustrated that his own projects are taking finances money away
from other projects, well.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
From our perspective, We've been very happy with the President's
approchon crypto. I mean, he said that he wants the
US to be the crypto capital of the world. He's
told Congress that he wants this legislation both for stable
coins and market structure to be.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Passed before the August recess.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
You know, declaring a strategic bitcoin reserve here in the
US was an incredible milestone. So from our point of view,
it could not be a better outcome versus what we
saw over the last four years, where the lack of
clarity was really weaponized togat inst the industry. But what's
positive is that crypto is truly bipartisan. I mean, the
President's leadership here has been amazing, but I think that
(13:08):
Congress and especially in the Senate, the folks I talk
to you, there's now a strong bipartisan majority of people
who want to see pro crypto legislation get passed.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Right, I want to start off where we left off.
We're talking about other competitors in the space. E. Toro
being a new trading you know, publicly traded company, for example,
but also foreign companies that are entering the US potentially
because they're excited about lighter regulations or at least clearer
regulations and rules of the road. Do you see much
more competition ahead for Coinbase.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yes, I mean actually, I think that many different companies
are now coming into crypto with this regulatory clarity on
the horizon. And you know, one way to look at
that is you know, oh, no, there's too much competition.
The other way to look at it is I think
it's an incredible improvement because you know, you have to
remember in the past the industry is just being attacked.
Our competitors were more like FTI and these kinds of companies.
(14:01):
I'd much rather be in the world we're in now,
where we have lots of companies coming in and by
the way, those are all potential customers of our products
and services. So to me, I just see tam expansion
when I see regulatory clarity, I think it's a huge unlock.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Brian, we're looking forward to seeing where it all goes,
that is Coinbased CEO Brian Armstrong. Of course, during his
visit to Washington, we're looking forward to getting a readout
because of course the rules are changing under the ground
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