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Speaker 1: Also in DC this week, Coinbase urging US banking regulators

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Speaker 1: to clarify or amend their positions in order to allow

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Speaker 1: banks to offer custody and trading execution services for crypto.

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Speaker 1: A Senate committee is set to hold a hearing tomorrow

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Speaker 1: on what's referred to as debanking. Coinbase chief policy officer

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Speaker 1: Fijar Chizade joins us now from a Brussels fire ore.

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Speaker 1: Good to see you again, Thanks so much for joining

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Speaker 1: us on at Bloomberg Crypto. We're going to talk about

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Speaker 1: what's happening in Washington, d C. In just a minute,

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Speaker 1: but I do want to get your thoughts on how

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Speaker 1: coinbase thinks about listing different assets, really in the context

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Speaker 1: of what we learned from President Trump just ahead of

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Speaker 1: his inauguration with the launch of his Trump Mean coin.

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Speaker 1: Is this something that coinbase would list. Is this something

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Speaker 1: that falls into the category of listing on coinbase, Like,

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Speaker 1: just give us your thinking around this.

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Speaker 2: Well, we have a very rigorous process by which we

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Speaker 2: evaluate tokens, and in fact, the folks that do this

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Speaker 2: are very much walled off from the rest of us

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Speaker 2: in the company. Just to make sure that there's integrity

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Speaker 2: to the process. There are no leaks, and that they

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Speaker 2: apply the standards that we use rigorously in each token

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Speaker 2: that they look at. So out of the thousands and

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Speaker 2: thousands of tokens that are out there, they're about two

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Speaker 2: hundred and forty that we list on our US platform,

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Speaker 2: and we evaluate each token to make sure it's not

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Speaker 2: a security, to make sure it's CyberSecure, and make sure

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Speaker 2: that there's not a scam underlying it. And that's the

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Speaker 2: process that we apply to the trump coin, which we

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Speaker 2: do list on our platform, and the decision the list

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Speaker 2: is really very much a reflection of what we think

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Speaker 2: the market demand may be and whether the token can

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Speaker 2: meet the standards that we've set, And so we don't

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Speaker 2: comment about individual tokens, you know, we're asked agnostic, but

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Speaker 2: our process is rigorous and we feel good about where

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Speaker 2: the decisions we make.

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Speaker 1: When we did see that coin released, we did see

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Speaker 1: some reporting about some concern about folks in the crypto

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Speaker 1: industry worrying that it was a distraction or worrying that

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Speaker 1: it would hurt the legitimacy of some of the lobbying

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Speaker 1: or at least some of the hopes of what would

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Speaker 1: be achieved during the Trump administration when it came to

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Speaker 1: this space, How do you look at it?

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Speaker 2: I think every token has a story behind it, and

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Speaker 2: some of the stories are more interesting than the others.

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Speaker 2: People have views one way or the other. We try

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Speaker 2: not to get into the kind of the backstory of

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Speaker 2: any of the tokens. What we try to look at

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Speaker 2: as those standards that I talk about, is it CyberSecure?

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Speaker 2: Is there something about it that is potentially reflective of

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Speaker 2: some sort of scam? Is it a security? And we

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Speaker 2: applied those standards pretty dispassionately and carefully, and so there's

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Speaker 2: a lot of feelings that people have about individual tokens.

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Speaker 2: People have views about the Trump token. Our view is

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Speaker 2: that there's a demand for it. It meets our listening standards,

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Speaker 2: and it's available for our customers if they want to

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Speaker 2: access it through our platform.

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Speaker 3: Well, for ya, let's switch gears here and let's talk

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Speaker 3: about what's happening on the Hill tomorrow, because the Senate Banking, Housing,

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Speaker 3: and Urban Affairs Committee is holding a hearing that many

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Speaker 3: are calling a d banking hearing, and you actually sent

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Speaker 3: a letter urging US banking regulators to clarify or amend

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Speaker 3: their positions to allow banks to offer custody and trading

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Speaker 3: execution services for cryptocurrencies. Typically banks haven't really been able

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Speaker 3: to play in that sandbox, and I thought that was

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Speaker 3: interesting given that, you know, Coinbase obviously offers custody, that's

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Speaker 3: part of your business, and particularly when it comes to

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Speaker 3: a lot of these spot bitcoin ETFs, Coinbase provides custody.

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Speaker 3: Do you see a future in which coinbase is competing

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Speaker 3: with the banks for custody business? Oh?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: Our goal coinbas is to promote economic freedom, and our

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Speaker 2: goal ultimately in terms of participation in the crypto economies

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Speaker 2: is to bring a billion people on chain and that's

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Speaker 2: only going to happen if we have a broad ecosystem

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Speaker 2: of partners who are ready to serve as that demand.

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Speaker 2: And so we welcome competition, and we think banks are

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Speaker 2: critical part of the ecosystem, and so we actually do

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Speaker 2: a fair amount of lobby just to make sure their

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Speaker 2: status ability to engage in cry activity is clear. Now,

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Speaker 2: the backstory on why we wrote this letter is that

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Speaker 2: there was an effort under the previous administration over the

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Speaker 2: course of the last three years to essentially withhold banking

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Speaker 2: services from crypto companies and individuals. So it happened to

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Speaker 2: many of the larger companies, but it also happened to

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Speaker 2: just individuals who were involved in crypto one way or

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Speaker 2: the other and couldn't get a mortgage, or couldn't get

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Speaker 2: an auto loan, or found their bank accounts closed. And

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Speaker 2: I think what the two committees are going to do

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Speaker 2: this week, both the Senate Banking Committee and the House

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Speaker 2: Financial Services Committee, is to try to unearth as much

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Speaker 2: information as they can about what exactly happened. And for

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Speaker 2: our part, we've done two big important things. One is

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Speaker 2: we've had ongoing litigation with the FDIC to have them

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Speaker 2: essentially release the documents that were the basis where behind

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Speaker 2: the curtain they were pressuring banks to stop crypto activity.

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Speaker 2: And then the letter that we issued yesterday that you mentioned,

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Speaker 2: which is from three of the top banking law firms

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Speaker 2: in the country, that clarifies that there's no legal basis

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Speaker 2: for the bank regulators to have pushed the banks to

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Speaker 2: debank the sector. And I think those two things are

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Speaker 2: really important for the committees and for the administration, and

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Speaker 2: so we're pleased to be able to have gotten those out.

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Speaker 1: Farrir, you and I have not had a chance to connect.

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Speaker 1: Since David Sachs was announced as the Crypto and ais Are,

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Speaker 1: he was widely seen and applauded by many within the

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Speaker 1: industry because you would be seen as this bridge to

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Speaker 1: folks like yourself who've been in the industry for years.

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Speaker 1: Can you give us an idea if you have of

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Speaker 1: any conversations that you've had with David Sachs thus far

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Speaker 1: as he served as the cryptos.

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Speaker 2: Are, Well, I'll say a couple of things. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I worked in the White House in a previous administration

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Speaker 2: in a similar role involving international economics. And having a

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Speaker 2: point person who has the backing of the President, whose

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Speaker 2: job it is to make sure that the president's vision

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Speaker 2: on in a particular sector or area gets done is

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Speaker 2: a huge thing. And having a guy like David with

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Speaker 2: his talents as the Crypto and ais are is amazing

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Speaker 2: for the industry, but it's amazing for the American people.

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Speaker 2: It'll ensure that on these two cutting edge technologies, the

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Speaker 2: US will be in a leadership position. We've had a

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Speaker 2: chance to talk to to David and to his team,

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Speaker 2: and I think he said to us what he has

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Speaker 2: said publicly, and I imagine what he's going to say

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Speaker 2: in a short bit, he's got a mandate from the

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Speaker 2: President to move and to move quickly. He's got good

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Speaker 2: partnerships with the committees and the chairs of the relevant

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Speaker 2: committees to get the work done, and we're really really

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Speaker 2: pleased to do our part to try to help make

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Speaker 2: that happen.

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Speaker 3: Well. We are looking forward to David Sachs this afternoon speaking,

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Speaker 3: But for before we let you go, I do want

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Speaker 3: to talk about the SEC, and I want to turn

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Speaker 3: the clock back to June twenty twenty three, when the SEC,

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Speaker 3: of course soued coin based alleging securities rules violations, and

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Speaker 3: I'm curious what the conversation has been like, whether or

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Speaker 3: not you're in talks with the SEC to possibly end

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Speaker 3: that lawsuit.

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Speaker 2: Can't comment on anything relating to our specific lawsuit, but

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Speaker 2: what I would say is we've had a chance to

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Speaker 2: talk to the new leadership of many of the agencies,

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Speaker 2: and in particular the SEC. I think the acting chair

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Speaker 2: and Hester Purse, the other Republican Commissioner, I think are

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Speaker 2: very much focused on a process to heal the agency.

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Speaker 2: What we've had over the last four years is a

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Speaker 2: really abnormal situation where you've got an agency that's refused

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Speaker 2: to engage in dialogue with stakeholders in the public, refuse

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Speaker 2: to provide clarity or answer simple questions, and I think

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Speaker 2: the first order of business, from what I understand from them,

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Speaker 2: is to just create a much more responsive and transparent

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Speaker 2: process where people can come in, have their stay, get

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Speaker 2: a fair hearing, and there be a process that ultimately

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Speaker 2: leads in policy outcomes. So we're very, very excited that

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Speaker 2: we're going to be able to have kind of the

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Speaker 2: normal ability to petition our government like everybody else should

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Speaker 2: be able to on our system. And I think you'll

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Speaker 2: see some good work, including the task force that they've

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Speaker 2: formed under hester person, and I think there'll be more

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Speaker 2: announcements coming soon.

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Speaker 3: All Right, Well, that's a good place to leave.

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Speaker 2: It.

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Speaker 3: Really great to get some time with you. That is quinbased,

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Speaker 3: Chief policy officer forr Sharzad