Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Declares Crypto Is the World’s Most Urgent Financial Need in 2025
Crypto isn't just the future—it's the lifeline global finance needs right now. Brian Armstrong, Coinbase's outspoken CEO, doubled down on digital assets as traditional systems sputter.
Why the urgency? Armstrong's betting on crypto to bypass legacy finance's red tape, inefficiencies, and—let's be honest—the occasional Wall Street grift. While banks debate their next quarterly bonuses, blockchain keeps moving at light speed.
Love it or hate it, one thing's clear: the old guard's playbook is gathering dust. Whether crypto delivers salvation or just another speculative bubble remains to be seen—but Armstrong's all-in. And if history's any guide, he'll keep buying the dip.
BTC will soon grow to be the reserve currency – Armstrong
According to Armstrong, the crypto industry is functioning in a way that, while Bitcoin is a store of value, stablecoins are the medium of exchange. He believes that holistic crypto adoption will take 10 to 15 years.
Stablecoin legislation is navigating its way through the government. And Circle’s (CRCL) IPO was met with resounding enthusiasm. Armstrong said, “The stablecoin market cap is up 50%+ year-over-year, uncorrelated with crypto trading volume. […] This is crypto’s next daily use case, and it’s just the beginning.”
On the other hand, the Trump administration has moved to create a Bitcoin strategic reserve, though its framework remains to be determined.
US companies such as GameStop (GME) and Strategy (MSTR) have been big buyers of Bitcoin to diversify their cash holdings. Trump Media & Technology (DJT) recently announced a plan to raise $2.5 billion to buy bitcoin.
Armstrong also said that he wants the US to remain in the reserve currency status. However, if the debt situation doesn’t get fixed eventually, Bitcoin will have to become the reserve currency for better or worse.
He said that the Chinese RMB has no chance of becoming the reserve currency because they have their own debt problems. According to Statista, China’s total national debt is estimated at around $14.83 trillion in 2023.
Coinbase strategies dedicated to Crypto
Coinbase’s CEO said that they are focused on driving crypto adoption and growing the total addressable market. Their first strategy was directed towards Bitcoin, listing more assets, and now seeing real-world asset tokenization. Last year, RWA tokenization was up over 200x, with $20 billion now on-chain.
He said that Coinbase is partnering with companies like Shopify to bring crypto payments to millions of merchants, further expanding the use of crypto in everyday transactions. Coinbase has created a Credit Card, powered by American Express, with up to 4% cashback paid in BTC.
He added, “We’re not just putting a new UI on old rails. We’re building a new financial system from the ground up: new rails, new money, and new services like Bitcoin-backed loans using DeFi and stablecoin payments.”
In addition, he said that the company is building a platform for the next generation of internet applications. According to him, the future of internet applications will be built on-chain. This allows value to FLOW directly to creators without intermediaries and platforms capturing most of the value.
Meanwhile, the company’s first-quarter sales fell 24% from the prior year amid a slowdown in trading activity. Worthington rates Coinbase shares as Neutral with a $215 price target, suggesting 16% downside from current levels.
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