Written by: Techub News整理

Introduction

In Episode 222 of The Shawn Ryan Show, Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, was interviewed in depth for nearly three hours. This was at a time when the price of Bitcoin hit an all-time high and the U.S. regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies underwent drastic changes. Armstrong's remarks not only replayed Coinbase's struggles with regulators over the past few years but also provided a comprehensive commentary on the future of the cryptocurrency industry, U.S. innovation competitiveness, and his personal explorations at the frontier of biotechnology. As an industry leader who brought the company into the S&P 500 index, his views carry significant weight.

Summary

• Armstrong detailed the inside story of the “legal battle” with former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, calling it a “political suppression” directed by Elizabeth Warren, aimed at driving the cryptocurrency industry out of the U.S.
• He shared how Coinbase successfully organized millions of cryptocurrency users to lobby politically, helping to “replace” anti-crypto senior senators in the 2024 elections and reshape the power dynamics in Congress.
• Armstrong firmly believes Bitcoin is the antidote to dollar inflation and financial system failures, describing its design as a major breakthrough in computer science, and explained why the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is no longer important.
• In addition to cryptocurrency, Armstrong has invested heavily in the biotech startup New Limit, aiming to reverse aging through cell reprogramming technology, predicting that breakthrough therapies may emerge in the next 5-10 years.
• His core advice to entrepreneurs is “action generates information,” encouraging people to fearlessly embrace failure and boldly explore the unknown.

The “War” with the SEC: A Politically Driven Legal Assault

In the interview, Brian Armstrong spoke candidly about Coinbase's years-long conflict with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He characterized this struggle as a “legal battle” driven by political motives, rather than a regulatory stance based on facts.

Armstrong pointed out that the main orchestrators of this “war” are Senator Elizabeth Warren and her appointee, former SEC Chair Gary Gensler. He believes that Warren's socialist tendencies lead her to desire government control over all financial services, while cryptocurrency, due to its decentralized nature and lack of control by traditional banking systems, directly threatens her political philosophy. Unable to get relevant legislation passed in Congress, Warren used her influence to employ regulatory agencies for a “soft suppression” of the industry.

“They are playing ‘Operation Chokepoint 2.0’,” Armstrong described. Regulators would pressure banks that worked with cryptocurrency companies, hinting that if they continued to collaborate, they would face more frequent and harsh scrutiny, thus forcing banks to sever ties with the crypto industry. Regarding Gary Gensler, Armstrong bluntly stated that he has “totally betrayed” the industry's interests. He noted that before becoming SEC Chair, Gensler taught cryptocurrency courses at MIT and praised the technology, but after assuming the role and in exchange for Warren's support for his nomination as Treasury Secretary, he launched a fierce attack on the industry.

When Coinbase went public in 2021, it had engaged in comprehensive and transparent communication with the SEC and received permission to list. However, one to two years later, the SEC's stance changed drastically, beginning to send stern inquiry letters, accusing Coinbase of engaging in businesses it had already approved. Armstrong recalled that the company held over 30 meetings with the SEC, repeatedly asking, “What specific legal rules have we violated?” The response was always, “We will not provide legal advice.” Ultimately, the SEC sued Coinbase without identifying any specific violations.

“At that moment, I realized we had to fight,” Armstrong said. He understood the immense risks of litigation against regulators, which could potentially cripple the company, but he was more concerned that if Coinbase capitulated, the entire U.S. cryptocurrency industry would be stifled, forcing innovation and capital to flow overseas, ultimately harming American consumers (who would only be able to use less safe foreign platforms). This lawsuit cost Coinbase tens of millions of dollars in legal fees and severely depressed its stock price, but Armstrong viewed it as a necessary sacrifice. Fortunately, with the new government taking office, the new SEC Chair reviewed these cases and withdrew them all; Coinbase paid no fines and did not change any business practices.

Cryptocurrency Political Awakening: From Passive Victim to Controlling Electoral Power

The struggle with the SEC led Brian Armstrong and the entire cryptocurrency industry to undergo a profound political awakening. He admitted that he initially was “non-political,” believing that as long as they complied with the law, they need not engage in the disputes of Washington. But reality taught him: “Even if you’re not interested in politics, politics will find you.”

Armstrong realized that in Washington, pure reasoning and education were ineffective; the real leverage was political power—votes and funds. Thus, Coinbase took the lead in creating the grassroots movement organization “Stand With Crypto,” organizing millions of American cryptocurrency users into a large voting bloc. They created “crypto stance scorecards” for members of Congress, clearly supporting pro-crypto candidates.

The most notable victory occurred in the 2024 Senate election. At that time, Sherrod Brown, the chair of the Senate Banking Committee, was a staunch anti-crypto figure, repeatedly refusing to meet with Armstrong and crypto entrepreneurs in Ohio while obstructing all relevant legislation. Just before the election, his polls showed him leading his opponent by 11 percentage points. The crypto community fully supported his opponent, Bernie Moreno, successfully bringing Brown down. “This sent shockwaves through Washington,” Armstrong said, delivering a clear message: opposing crypto is politically dangerous, while supporting crypto can win substantial votes.

Additionally, the cryptocurrency industry formed a bipartisan political action committee (PAC) named Fairshake, raising over $140 million to support pro-crypto candidates, regardless of party affiliation. Armstrong emphasized that this was a political mobilization based on issues rather than party lines, aimed at protecting the industry’s right to exist and develop. Through this election, America welcomed “the most pro-crypto Congress in history.”

Bitcoin: The “Mathematical Holy Grail” to Address a Disorderly Financial System

As an early believer in Bitcoin, Brian Armstrong reiterated his understanding of Bitcoin’s fundamental value in the interview. He referred to the Bitcoin white paper as a “true breakthrough” in computer science, with its core contribution being the realization of “provable scarcity” for digital goods for the first time.

Armstrong explained that in the digital world, the cost of copying anything (like a photo) is nearly zero, making it impossible to serve as currency. Bitcoin, through its clever consensus algorithms and cryptography, creates a digital asset that cannot be issued arbitrarily, with a total supply strictly limited to 21 million coins. This attribute is similar to gold, but purely digital and globally accessible. Over the past decade, countless top cryptographers and nation-state attackers have attempted to crack this system but have failed, enhancing its credibility over time.

He pointed out, based on his lived experience in Argentina, that many early Americans did not understand Bitcoin because the dollar was relatively stable. However, people in most countries around the world have suffered from hyperinflation and government currency debasement. Bitcoin provides these people with an alternative of “sound money,” a savings tool that cannot be devalued unilaterally by the government.

Reflecting on the dollar, Armstrong revisited the history of America leaving the gold standard, noting that from the 1930s to Nixon's “temporary” measure in 1971, the dollar gradually lost its gold backing. This opened the door for the government’s indiscriminate deficit spending and is a deep-seated cause of the recent inflation surge. He believes that if the dollar continues to lose discipline, the U.S. may lose its status as a reserve currency, and scarce assets like Bitcoin, gold, and real estate will become safe havens for people. This is the basic logic behind his optimism for Bitcoin’s long-term value.

Regarding the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, Armstrong speculated it is likely the late cryptographer Hal Finney, possibly in collaboration with Nick Szabo and others. However, he emphasized that regardless of who the creator is, the concept and algorithms of Bitcoin have already independently existed and stood the test of time, just as relativity is not diminished by Einstein’s personal character.

Beyond Cryptocurrency: Betting on Biotechnology, Challenging Human Lifespan Limits

Besides cryptocurrency, Brian Armstrong has invested a significant amount of personal wealth and energy into a biotech startup named New Limit. The company's goal is ambitious: to reverse cellular aging and extend human healthspan through epigenetic reprogramming technology.

Armstrong explained that its scientific foundation stems from the Nobel Prize-winning research on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka. New Limit has a slightly different research direction: they do not plan to change cell types (such as converting skin cells into neurons) but aim to make aging cells “return to youth,” restoring their functions from their younger days. They have established a high-throughput screening platform capable of testing millions of combinations of proteins (transcription factors), looking for the “formulas” that can reset cell status to a younger stage.

He admitted that their understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms is still rudimentary, but just like Yamanaka’s initial discovery of effective methods, they are searching for breakthroughs through large-scale trial and error. Technologically, they may deliver specific protein combinations to target cells via lipid nanoparticles to activate or deactivate relevant genes.

Armstrong predicts that the first project is expected to enter human clinical trials within one to two years, while truly usable therapies might emerge in 5 to 10 years. Initial drugs could potentially increase healthy lifespan by 5-10 years, with the ultimate goal of developing a “cocktail therapy” targeting multiple cell types (especially brain cells) to achieve functional “age reversal,” addressing age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's.

He also discussed the potential social and ethical issues that could arise from this, as well as the slow FDA approval process possibly forcing innovation overseas. But he firmly believes that overcoming diseases and empowering people with choices for longer, healthier lives is unequivocally good, worth taking the risk to invest in.

Innovation Philosophy: Action Generates Information, Fearlessly Step into the Unknown

At the end of the interview, Brian Armstrong shared his entrepreneurial and innovation philosophy. To young people aspiring to innovate, his core advice is: action generates information.

He used a vivid metaphor to illustrate: imagine a mountain shrouded in thick fog, and you want to reach the top, but can only see a few meters ahead. You cannot sit still and think of the perfect path. The only way is to take a step forward into the fog. You may take a wrong turn, encounter a cliff, and have to turn back, but each attempt allows you to see a little bit of new scenery, guiding you to adjust your direction. Many people get stuck in “analysis paralysis” out of fear of failure, afraid of looking stupid, never daring to take the first step.

Armstrong even humorously noted that many successful tech entrepreneurs might exhibit traits of the autism spectrum, which could be an advantage—they care less about whether they seem “weird” or “stupid” in social situations, and this “immunity” to social anxiety enables them to bravely experiment with various wild ideas until they find one that works.

Reflecting on the founding of Coinbase, he noted that the prototype he initially built was “completely wrong,” but the feedback received after it was released immediately made him realize how to improve it. This experience perfectly illustrates his philosophy: do not wait for the perfect plan; take action immediately, even if it starts with mistakes, as it can lead you to the right path.

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