- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sat down with Ark Invest founder Cathie Wood to discuss all things BTC at the Sate of Crypto Summit 2024.
- Armstrong believes that crypto will provide “good financial infrastructure” for the world, particularly helping those who are unbanked or working internationally.
- He also touched on the importance of Layer 2s in achieving mainstream crypto adoption, citing scalability as key.
- Ultimately, Armstrong predicted that up to 25% of the world’s GDP may be pushed by crypto thanks to its efficiency compared to traditional financial solutions.
It was a big weekend for crypto conferences. Over in Europe, we had the BTC Prague Conference, while in New York residents got to enjoy the State of Crypto Summit 2024. One of the latter’s keynote events was a sit-down discussion between two of the industry’s biggest influencers – the CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong and the CEO of Ark Invest, Cathie Wood.
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US Regulatory Clarity Standing in the Way of Powerful Financial Infrastructure
The interview started with Wood asking Armstrong for Coinbase’s broader philosophy and how it plans to navigate the crypto world going forward. The response was heavily focussed on financial independence and providing crypto-based infrastructure to those who may be unbanked or live in otherwise corrupt financial systems.
[The current financial system] is slow, it’s expensive, there’s unequal access around the world…the mission of Coinbase is…to increase economic freedom in the world.
Brian ArmstrongWith smartphones readily and cheaply available worldwide, Armstrong emphasised that crypto’s financial structures can be tapped into by anyone with access to the internet. This gives people the opportunity to participate in things like yielding, fair property rights and the ability to hedge against inflation.
Armstrong believes the biggest current obstacle to achieving this goal is (at least in the US), regulatory clarity. But with the digital asset world becoming a hot topic in the upcoming presidential election, he is confident that the US government is on the right track.
Layer 2s Like Base Sending Blockchain to its Next Era
A major talking point for the duo was the potential power of Coinbase’s Ether-based Layer 2 network, Base.
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Armstrong labelled it one of the “most exciting products” in blockchain tech at the minute. A key reason (aside from him being the CEO of the venture) is that Layer 2 networks are enablers. He contends that scalability solutions are the bridge that can transform the powerful ideas around blockchain into a reality.
“Layer 1 networks were the first thing that happened in crypto…they were kind of slow, they were kind of expensive, but you could see the potential of it. With Layer 2 coming online it’s kind of like when the internet moved from dialup to broadband”.
Armstrong touched on revolutionary use cases like sending USDC globally “for free”, which can be a major evolution for how international companies remit employees, among other functions.
With 10% of the world already wanting to invest in crypto, Armstrong believes that the future could see a quarter of the world’s GDP being driven by “crypto rails” within ten years.
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