Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong thinks the leading US crypto exchange platform becoming the main financial account for its customers.
Big dreams, ambitious plans
In a new interview with CNBC, Brian Armstrong detailed his ambitious plans for Coinbase, and explained that the company wants to introduce new features that could motivate users to use Coinbase as their primary financial account instead of traditional banks.
He stated that while Coinbase doesn’t intend to become a bank, it wants to be the main financial account for its users, and in a future where money is digitized, people’s phones could serve as their primary financial tool, replacing traditional bank branches and checkbooks.
For the next generation, their phone will function as their wallet, a way to get paid, or manage finances.
Armstrong mentioned that Coinbase has already started to implement this vision with products like the Coinbase Card, which allows users to spend their crypto, and USD Coin for holding US dollar balances.
He suggested that future features might include the ability to send wire or bank transfers, making Coinbase a comprehensive, all-in-one financial account for ithe users.
Corporations are here
Armstrong also noted the fast increase in crypto adoption among major traditional finance companies, shared that 56% of Fortune 500 companies are now engaging with blockchain technology on some degree.
Companies like BlackRock are tokenizing real-world assets, JP Morgan is utilizing blockchain with its Onyx platform, Google Cloud is accepting crypto payments, and fintech giants like Stripe and PayPal are working with stablecoins.
This is quiet widespread adoption compared to the technology’s usage just a few years back.
Not your keys, not your Bitcoin
Despite this futuristic outlook, critics argue that this model could mean users are simply exchanging state control for company control in case of money, because they would still need to rely on a third party and trust the company managing their accounts.
One of Bitcoin’s main appeals is the idea of „be your own bank,” where no one else has control over a user’s money, as the Bitcoin network is designed to be permissionless and open, offering control solely to the user who own the keys.
Some experts say that having a Coinbase account is similar to having a traditional bank account, where the control lies with the system rather than the individual.
Brian Armstrong Says Coinbase Aiming To Become People’s ‘Primary Financial Account’ of the Future
The chief executive of Coinbase says that he wants the top US crypto exchange platform to eventually become their customers’ go-to financial account.
In a new interview on CNBC Television, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says that his company plans to roll out new features that could compel customers to use the platform as their main financial account over their bank account.
In the banking world, they do something called fractional reserve and it has its own regulatory requirements for that. We’re not intending to become a bank, but we are intending to become people’s primary financial accounts.
And so, the digitization of money and having mobile money on your phone – your phone is your bank account in the future.
There’s going to be a whole generation of kids who grew up and they’re not going to have a bank branch on the corner with a checkbook in the way that maybe you and I did growing up.
Their phone is going to be their wallet. That’s how they get paid. It’s how they live their lives and borrow money if and when they need to.
So that’s the opportunity for Coinbase, and we have the beginnings of that with Coinbase Card for instance, which lets you spend. We have USD Coin if you want to hold US dollar balances.
And in the future, you can imagine us adding other features like the ability to send a wire transfer or bank transfer, and then it could really be your primary financial account.
Armstrong also says crypto adoption is quickly increasing among the biggest players in the traditional finance (TradFi) sector.
“Fifty-six percent of the Fortune 500 are now doing something on-chain and we go and survey executives from those companies, so the biggest companies in the world whether it’s BlackRock tokenizing real-world assets, JP Morgan is doing things on-chain with Onyx, Google Cloud is accepting crypto payments, fintechs like Stripe and PayPal are doing things with stablecoins. So I think crypto is here to stay and the biggest companies in the world are all integrating it.”
Many critics highlighted, in this way users are exchanging the state-control to company-control, as they still have to use a third party, and have to trust the account managing company.
One of Bitcoin’s main value-proposition is the „be your own bank”, which means no one get control over the users money but the owner. This is why Bitcoin network is premissonless and open.
As experts say, a Coinbase account is just like a normal bank account, the control is not at the user, but the system.
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