Writer: Techub News Compilation

Introduction

During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong participated in an in-depth interview with Bloomberg. This conversation occurred at a critical juncture for the cryptocurrency industry: the first comprehensive regulatory framework for the crypto asset market in the United States—the Financial Innovation and Technology Act (FIT Act)—is under consideration in the Senate, while Coinbase has just found itself embroiled in public controversy due to its withdrawal of support for a specific version of the bill. As the leader of the world's largest compliant cryptocurrency trading platform, Armstrong met with political leaders, central bank governors, and CEOs of traditional banks in Davos, and his views not only reflect the strategies of leading firms but also reveal the complex and profound interactions between the crypto world and traditional finance and regulatory systems.

Summary

• Armstrong believes that the increase in regulatory clarity by 2025 marks the arrival of a "breakthrough moment" for the crypto industry, but recently the FIT Act draft has faced opposition from Coinbase for being overly favorable to traditional finance (TradFi) interests.
• He dismissed the idea that stablecoin businesses need banking licenses, emphasizing the fundamental difference between the 100% reserve model and the fractional reserve banking system, and argued that stablecoins would become the default payment method for AI agents.
• Armstrong remains bullish on Bitcoin in the long term, reiterating his prediction that it will reach $1 million by 2030, and believes tokenization will democratize global investment opportunities in assets.
• Coinbase is moving towards becoming a "Universal Exchange," integrating diverse asset trading such as stocks and prediction markets, and leveraging AI to enhance development efficiency and customer service, building a moat centered around "asset accumulation."
• In terms of leadership, Armstrong believes he has learned to stick to his principles during contentious moments, such as suing the SEC and opposing unfair legislative proposals to defend the interests of the industry and consumers.

Regulatory Breakthroughs and Legislative Games: The "Critical Moment" for Crypto

From the outset of the interview, Brian Armstrong expressed strong optimism about the current state of the crypto industry. He asserts that 2025 will be a "huge year" for the crypto space, marked by the United States finally starting to gain regulatory clarity. He specifically mentioned the passage of the Stablecoin Trust Act (the "genius act" referenced in the original text is likely referring to the stablecoin legislative framework) and the subsequent announcement by over 200 companies to integrate stablecoins. Financial institutions are adopting crypto technology at an "astonishing pace," and Coinbase itself has provided crypto infrastructure support for five of the top 20 banks globally.

However, this optimism has recently been overshadowed by a legislative storm. The FIT Act currently under consideration in the Senate, while receiving strong bipartisan support in the House, has sparked controversy in its recent draft version. Armstrong candidly stated that there are "too many concessions to traditional finance" in the draft. His core stance is that the market needs a fair competitive environment, where the rules clearly define what is allowed and what is prohibited, allowing all American companies to compete on that basis. He believes that some banking lobby groups and associations are trying to "ban their competition," which he has "zero tolerance" for, labeling it "un-American" and detrimental to consumers.

When asked if he had received word from the White House stating "this is Trump's bill, not Brian Armstrong's bill" and threatening to withdraw from negotiations, Armstrong denied it. He stated that the credit for the bill should go to the Senate, and while President Trump did indeed make it a central part of his crypto agenda, all the White House staff he engaged with were fully committed and hoping to achieve results. He likened it to "three blind men touching an elephant," noting that some individuals may hold that opinion, but it is not mainstream.

Stablecoins, Banking Licenses, and the Future Payments of AI Agents

A core focus of the legislative debate is whether platforms like Coinbase, which offer incentives for users to hold stablecoins, should be required to obtain banking licenses. Traditional banks contend that this poses a risk of deposit outflows. Armstrong provided a thorough rebuttal to this.

He first delineated the boundaries of the business model: banks engage in fractional reserve lending, meaning that the funds deposited by users are not kept in full but rather loaned out to earn interest rate spreads (net interest margin), which creates the risk of bank runs, necessitating stringent regulation. In contrast, the stablecoin business in the crypto world typically operates on a 100% reserve model, where all user funds are actually present, fundamentally eliminating the possibility of a bank run. Therefore, he believes that such businesses do not require a banking license, as existing frameworks such as SEC, CFTC regulations, and federal trust statutes are already sufficient.

Armstrong then directed the discussion towards the cutting-edge domain—AI meeting crypto. He pointed out that AI and crypto represent the two most important technology trends in today's world, and these two have highly complementary elements. As AI agents need to perform tasks in the real world (including payments), the traditional financial system's rules, which are based on "identifying human individuals associated with accounts," will no longer apply. AI agents will require their own wallets to make payments. Thus, stablecoins and crypto wallets will become the default payment mechanism for AI agents. Coinbase has already developed tools related to this and has begun integrating them. He predicts that in the future, the volume of transactions processed by AI agents daily will exceed that of humans.

Internally at Coinbase, the application of AI is also deepening: about 50% of code is assisted by AI (subject to human review and security controls), approximately 60% of customer service tickets are handled by AI, and AI is also used for automating compliance and other backend functions. Additionally, Coinbase has launched a beta version of an AI agent service called "Coinbase Advisor," designed to offer users asset management advice typically reserved for high-net-worth clients, such as tax-loss harvesting and asset rebalancing.

Market Outlook: Bitcoin, Tokenization, and the "Universal Exchange"

Armstrong appears unconcerned about the short-term volatility of the cryptocurrency market. He acknowledged that the market has retreated in recent months but emphasized that the focus should be on long-term trends. He publicly reiterated his optimistic prediction for Bitcoin: by 2030, Bitcoin could reach a price of $1 million. The rationale for this prediction is that Bitcoin's supply is fixed, and as adoption increases, rising demand will drive prices up. He advises ordinary people to adopt a long-term buy-and-hold strategy rather than short-term trading.

Aside from Bitcoin, Armstrong placed significant emphasis on the trend of "tokenization." He believes that just as the tokenization of the dollar (stablecoins) has facilitated fast and inexpensive global payments, the tokenization of asset classes such as equities and bonds will result in enormous efficiency gains and democratized access. Approximately 4 billion adults globally are unable to invest in high-quality assets (described by him as the "unbrokered" population); tokenization has the potential to change this situation and allow ordinary people to participate in wealth creation. This aligns with Coinbase's grand vision—to build a "Universal Exchange," where almost all asset classes can be traded on a single platform.

In line with this vision, Coinbase has recently launched stock trading and prediction markets. Armstrong particularly highlighted the potential of prediction markets: they involve not only betting on sports events but can also serve as an alternative information aggregation mechanism to traditional media, allowing people to predict future events (such as election outcomes, interest rate changes, geopolitical events), since monetary inputs often yield higher signal information. He even imagines that in the future, lawmakers could utilize prediction markets to assess the effects of different policies (for instance, which proposal would best reduce unemployment).

In the face of competition from traditional trading platforms like Robinhood and potential competitors such as Binance looking to re-enter the U.S. market, Armstrong appears quite confident. He articulated Coinbase's "asset accumulation" strategy: leveraging the most trusted brand to attract users to store assets (currently managing about $500 billion in assets), which have inherent stickiness; then providing an increasing array of financial products (trading, lending, payment cards, etc.) around these assets, creating a flywheel effect. He believes that Coinbase has significantly outpaced others in terms of custodial services for crypto assets, and this advantage will be sustainable in the long term.

Leadership Evolution: Sticking to Principles Amid Controversy

Reflecting on his journey from software engineer to CEO managing thousands of employees in a publicly traded company, Brian Armstrong admitted to experiencing tremendous growth. He mentioned feeling "significantly underqualified" early on but was able to navigate challenges thanks to the support of a strong board, executive team, and coaches.

He believes that the times he grew the most as a leader were precisely those moments of making right yet controversial decisions. He cited three examples: first, during a period of heightened social activism, he published a "mission-first" blog post deciding not to bring political activism into the workplace, which led to significant controversy; second, when the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) took action, he disregarded the common advice of "do not sue federal regulators" and boldly filed a lawsuit, ultimately winning, which he believes saved the U.S. crypto industry; and third, his recent stance against the unfair clauses in the FIT Act draft, which, despite angering some, he saw as necessary for seeking the correct outcome.

"To me, the occurrence of regulatory capture is unethical. I don't care how many bank lobbyists come in… you can't draft a bill to entrench the interests of incumbents and try to ban their competition. I will not tolerate that, and I will speak out against it," Armstrong summarized his stance.

Finally, when asked what the biggest mistake people might make regarding crypto in the next decade, Armstrong's answer was straightforward: "If they do not allocate at least 5% of their net worth to Bitcoin, they may very well regret it." He envisions that ten years from now, crypto will renew all financial services, with even those unfamiliar with crypto benefiting from a more efficient, globalized, and cheaper financial system. The interview concluded with the iconic phrase from the crypto community, "To the moon," reflecting this crypto leader's boundless expectations for the industry's future.

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