Coinbase CEO Demands A Clear Rulebook For Crypto

In an interview with Bloomberg, Coinbase co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brian Armstrong addressed the current regulatory approach enforced by the U.S. government. The CEO of the U.S.-based exchange has reiterated that “staking” services shouldn’t be registered as a security under the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), saying:

Customers never turn their assets to Coinbase for instance. And we really just are providing a service that passes through those coins to help them participate in staking, which is a decentralized protocol.

Furthermore, the Coinbase CEO has stated that despite the ongoing regulatory actions that the SEC has carried out in recent months following the FTX collapse, the company maintains a “good relationship” with regulators, not only in the U.S. but also in Europe, Asia, and Canada, where the exchange provides its services.

In addition, Armstrong has explained that the crypto industry needs a clear set of rules to stay within the regulatory parameters so that customers can be provided with good consumer protection. Armstrong added:

If clear rules are published, we are happy to follow it. And if the rules change, we are happy to follow those. We want to bring this industry within the regulatory parameters so that we have good consumer protection. But, we also want to preserve the innovation potential.

Coinbase CEO Says Crypto Has The Power To Update Financial Systems

Speaking with Bloomberg, Armstrong addressed the recent launch of the testnet for their latest product, “Base,” an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) network, stating that they are “excited” about decentralized finances (DeFi), with many firms looking into how to integrate crypto into their financial services, including major firms such as JP Morgan, Visa, Mastercard, and the asset management firm Franklin Templeton, according to Coinbase’s CEO.

Coinbase has been launching new services and products in the crypto ecosystem to offer development and growth to their services, to what Armstrong claimed that the U.S. “needs to be a technology hub.”

For the executive, the future of crypto needs to be built in the U.S. with a clear regulatory environment that will allow the U.S. financial system to grow.

Armstrong also stated that he has “no concerns” about the crypto industry’s stablecoin sector, despite the investigation into Paxos and the Binance branded asset BUSD. Armstrong added that he’s “quite bullish” on the USDC stablecoin, which peer-to-peer payment technology company Circle, a Coinbase partner, is issuing. 

Coinbase has advocated for introducing “modern” regulatory policies for the crypto industry, recently launching a pro-crypto policy campaign in all 435 U.S. congressional districts called “Crypto435.”

The company’s stock, traded under the COIN ticker, has been growing steadily amid newly released inflation data, a medium-term win for investors in recovering stocks and cryptos. Coinbase shares have increased over 80% since the beginning of 2023 and are currently auctioned at $64 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

In the seven-day timeframe. Despite the recent growth, COIN stock has been trading sideways and in the red for the past 24 hours, down 0.16%. COIN is trading steadily with a loss of 0.25%, targeting its next resistance wall at $68.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView.com.