Speaker 1: Also in DC this week, Coinbase urging US banking regulators
Speaker 1: to clarify or amend their positions in order to allow
Speaker 1: banks to offer custody and trading execution services for crypto.
Speaker 1: A Senate committee is set to hold a hearing tomorrow
Speaker 1: on what's referred to as debanking. Coinbase chief policy officer
Speaker 1: Fijar Chizade joins us now from a Brussels fire ore.
Speaker 1: Good to see you again, Thanks so much for joining
Speaker 1: us on at Bloomberg Crypto. We're going to talk about
Speaker 1: what's happening in Washington, d C. In just a minute,
Speaker 1: but I do want to get your thoughts on how
Speaker 1: coinbase thinks about listing different assets, really in the context
Speaker 1: of what we learned from President Trump just ahead of
Speaker 1: his inauguration with the launch of his Trump Mean coin.
Speaker 1: Is this something that coinbase would list. Is this something
Speaker 1: that falls into the category of listing on coinbase, Like,
Speaker 1: just give us your thinking around this.
Speaker 2: Well, we have a very rigorous process by which we
Speaker 2: evaluate tokens, and in fact, the folks that do this
Speaker 2: are very much walled off from the rest of us
Speaker 2: in the company. Just to make sure that there's integrity
Speaker 2: to the process. There are no leaks, and that they
Speaker 2: apply the standards that we use rigorously in each token
Speaker 2: that they look at. So out of the thousands and
Speaker 2: thousands of tokens that are out there, they're about two
Speaker 2: hundred and forty that we list on our US platform,
Speaker 2: and we evaluate each token to make sure it's not
Speaker 2: a security, to make sure it's CyberSecure, and make sure
Speaker 2: that there's not a scam underlying it. And that's the
Speaker 2: process that we apply to the trump coin, which we
Speaker 2: do list on our platform, and the decision the list
Speaker 2: is really very much a reflection of what we think
Speaker 2: the market demand may be and whether the token can
Speaker 2: meet the standards that we've set, And so we don't
Speaker 2: comment about individual tokens, you know, we're asked agnostic, but
Speaker 2: our process is rigorous and we feel good about where
Speaker 2: the decisions we make.
Speaker 1: When we did see that coin released, we did see
Speaker 1: some reporting about some concern about folks in the crypto
Speaker 1: industry worrying that it was a distraction or worrying that
Speaker 1: it would hurt the legitimacy of some of the lobbying
Speaker 1: or at least some of the hopes of what would
Speaker 1: be achieved during the Trump administration when it came to
Speaker 1: this space, How do you look at it?
Speaker 2: I think every token has a story behind it, and
Speaker 2: some of the stories are more interesting than the others.
Speaker 2: People have views one way or the other. We try
Speaker 2: not to get into the kind of the backstory of
Speaker 2: any of the tokens. What we try to look at
Speaker 2: as those standards that I talk about, is it CyberSecure?
Speaker 2: Is there something about it that is potentially reflective of
Speaker 2: some sort of scam? Is it a security? And we
Speaker 2: applied those standards pretty dispassionately and carefully, and so there's
Speaker 2: a lot of feelings that people have about individual tokens.
Speaker 2: People have views about the Trump token. Our view is
Speaker 2: that there's a demand for it. It meets our listening standards,
Speaker 2: and it's available for our customers if they want to
Speaker 2: access it through our platform.
Speaker 3: Well, for ya, let's switch gears here and let's talk
Speaker 3: about what's happening on the Hill tomorrow, because the Senate Banking, Housing,
Speaker 3: and Urban Affairs Committee is holding a hearing that many
Speaker 3: are calling a d banking hearing, and you actually sent
Speaker 3: a letter urging US banking regulators to clarify or amend
Speaker 3: their positions to allow banks to offer custody and trading
Speaker 3: execution services for cryptocurrencies. Typically banks haven't really been able
Speaker 3: to play in that sandbox, and I thought that was
Speaker 3: interesting given that, you know, Coinbase obviously offers custody, that's
Speaker 3: part of your business, and particularly when it comes to
Speaker 3: a lot of these spot bitcoin ETFs, Coinbase provides custody.
Speaker 3: Do you see a future in which coinbase is competing
Speaker 3: with the banks for custody business? Oh?
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: Our goal coinbas is to promote economic freedom, and our
Speaker 2: goal ultimately in terms of participation in the crypto economies
Speaker 2: is to bring a billion people on chain and that's
Speaker 2: only going to happen if we have a broad ecosystem
Speaker 2: of partners who are ready to serve as that demand.
Speaker 2: And so we welcome competition, and we think banks are
Speaker 2: critical part of the ecosystem, and so we actually do
Speaker 2: a fair amount of lobby just to make sure their
Speaker 2: status ability to engage in cry activity is clear. Now,
Speaker 2: the backstory on why we wrote this letter is that
Speaker 2: there was an effort under the previous administration over the
Speaker 2: course of the last three years to essentially withhold banking
Speaker 2: services from crypto companies and individuals. So it happened to
Speaker 2: many of the larger companies, but it also happened to
Speaker 2: just individuals who were involved in crypto one way or
Speaker 2: the other and couldn't get a mortgage, or couldn't get
Speaker 2: an auto loan, or found their bank accounts closed. And
Speaker 2: I think what the two committees are going to do
Speaker 2: this week, both the Senate Banking Committee and the House
Speaker 2: Financial Services Committee, is to try to unearth as much
Speaker 2: information as they can about what exactly happened. And for
Speaker 2: our part, we've done two big important things. One is
Speaker 2: we've had ongoing litigation with the FDIC to have them
Speaker 2: essentially release the documents that were the basis where behind
Speaker 2: the curtain they were pressuring banks to stop crypto activity.
Speaker 2: And then the letter that we issued yesterday that you mentioned,
Speaker 2: which is from three of the top banking law firms
Speaker 2: in the country, that clarifies that there's no legal basis
Speaker 2: for the bank regulators to have pushed the banks to
Speaker 2: debank the sector. And I think those two things are
Speaker 2: really important for the committees and for the administration, and
Speaker 2: so we're pleased to be able to have gotten those out.
Speaker 1: Farrir, you and I have not had a chance to connect.
Speaker 1: Since David Sachs was announced as the Crypto and ais Are,
Speaker 1: he was widely seen and applauded by many within the
Speaker 1: industry because you would be seen as this bridge to
Speaker 1: folks like yourself who've been in the industry for years.
Speaker 1: Can you give us an idea if you have of
Speaker 1: any conversations that you've had with David Sachs thus far
Speaker 1: as he served as the cryptos.
Speaker 2: Are, Well, I'll say a couple of things. I mean,
Speaker 2: I worked in the White House in a previous administration
Speaker 2: in a similar role involving international economics. And having a
Speaker 2: point person who has the backing of the President, whose
Speaker 2: job it is to make sure that the president's vision
Speaker 2: on in a particular sector or area gets done is
Speaker 2: a huge thing. And having a guy like David with
Speaker 2: his talents as the Crypto and ais are is amazing
Speaker 2: for the industry, but it's amazing for the American people.
Speaker 2: It'll ensure that on these two cutting edge technologies, the
Speaker 2: US will be in a leadership position. We've had a
Speaker 2: chance to talk to to David and to his team,
Speaker 2: and I think he said to us what he has
Speaker 2: said publicly, and I imagine what he's going to say
Speaker 2: in a short bit, he's got a mandate from the
Speaker 2: President to move and to move quickly. He's got good
Speaker 2: partnerships with the committees and the chairs of the relevant
Speaker 2: committees to get the work done, and we're really really
Speaker 2: pleased to do our part to try to help make
Speaker 2: that happen.
Speaker 3: Well. We are looking forward to David Sachs this afternoon speaking,
Speaker 3: But for before we let you go, I do want
Speaker 3: to talk about the SEC, and I want to turn
Speaker 3: the clock back to June twenty twenty three, when the SEC,
Speaker 3: of course soued coin based alleging securities rules violations, and
Speaker 3: I'm curious what the conversation has been like, whether or
Speaker 3: not you're in talks with the SEC to possibly end
Speaker 3: that lawsuit.
Speaker 2: Can't comment on anything relating to our specific lawsuit, but
Speaker 2: what I would say is we've had a chance to
Speaker 2: talk to the new leadership of many of the agencies,
Speaker 2: and in particular the SEC. I think the acting chair
Speaker 2: and Hester Purse, the other Republican Commissioner, I think are
Speaker 2: very much focused on a process to heal the agency.
Speaker 2: What we've had over the last four years is a
Speaker 2: really abnormal situation where you've got an agency that's refused
Speaker 2: to engage in dialogue with stakeholders in the public, refuse
Speaker 2: to provide clarity or answer simple questions, and I think
Speaker 2: the first order of business, from what I understand from them,
Speaker 2: is to just create a much more responsive and transparent
Speaker 2: process where people can come in, have their stay, get
Speaker 2: a fair hearing, and there be a process that ultimately
Speaker 2: leads in policy outcomes. So we're very, very excited that
Speaker 2: we're going to be able to have kind of the
Speaker 2: normal ability to petition our government like everybody else should
Speaker 2: be able to on our system. And I think you'll
Speaker 2: see some good work, including the task force that they've
Speaker 2: formed under hester person, and I think there'll be more
Speaker 2: announcements coming soon.
Speaker 3: All Right, Well, that's a good place to leave.
Speaker 2: It.
Speaker 3: Really great to get some time with you. That is quinbased,
Speaker 3: Chief policy officer forr Sharzad