WEBVTT - Brian Armstrong Talks Future of Digital Assets 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:07.000 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:10.880 You are coming off a big year. Coinbase joined the 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:15.520 S and P five hundred Congress asherdon first federal framework 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.080 for stable coins. I walked past your house in Davos 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.439 and it said the future of finance is here. 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:23.520 Thank you for repeating the slogan. 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:26.239 Is it really really here though? Or is there a 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:26.920 long ways to go? 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.880 It is here. Twenty twenty five was a massive year 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.839 for cryptos. We started to get regulatory clarity finally in 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.519 the US, so we got the Genius Act passed. In 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:38.920 the wake of that, we saw two hundred companies announced 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:43.840 stable coin integrations. Financial institutions are adopting this at an 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:47.239 insane rate. We now power crypto infrastructure for five of 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:50.000 the top twenty largest banks in the world. 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:52.080 It's not just a US phenomenon. 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.760 We're seeing incredible adoption of crypto in emerging markets where 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.840 people have high inflation and stable coins are on a tear. 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:01.440 Not to mention prediction markets, et cetera, et cetera. So 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:04.560 I do think that we're to break out moment for 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.080 crypto and yeah, it's a big opportunity. 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.520 So who is your second year en Davos, right, Yeah, 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:12.720 who are you meeting with? What are your priorities? 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:14.520 Yeah, for twenty. 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:17.039 Twenty six, Well, we're meeting with world leaders to talk 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.680 about economic freedom and how crypto can help update their 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.080 financial system. We're meeting with central bank governors talk about 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:25.319 what they should do with stable coins. But probably the 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.800 most interesting one group that I'm meeting with here are 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:32.000 other bank CEOs. Because we are having this moment in 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:36.119 DC about getting market structured legislation passed, and the bills 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:38.360 made good progress. It got a strong bipartisan vote in 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.640 the House. It's now being deliberated in the Senate. And 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:42.080 there was a little bit of a blow up last 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:43.360 week and a little bit. 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.000 Of a blow up. Oh right, let's go there. Yeah, 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.640 it wasn't It seemed a big like a big blowout. 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.160 But you pulled your support for the bill for. 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:52.080 That current draft. 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:56.680 Yes, yes, Why, well, there was too many giveaways to tradify. 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:00.680 If I can say that, our view is that there should. 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.480 Be a level playing field for this is allowed, this 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:05.800 is not allowed, And then all the US companies compete 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.880 and banks didn't like that. They were in my view, 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.240 like the commercial sides of these banks are very smart 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:14.000 and the CEOs get it, and they're talking to us 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:18.760 about integrating crypto. The bank lobbying groups and bank associations 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.400 are out there trying to ban their competition, and I 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:22.760 have zero tolerance for that. 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:24.040 I think it's un American. 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.520 It harms consumers, and the banks need competition, they need 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.960 to innovate. We also saw this from some of the 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:33.920 securities broker lobbying groups, because you know, tokenized equities are 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.040 a big thing happening in crypto. So there was three 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:38.280 or four kind of redline issues we saw in the 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:40.280 draft text. And as I was in DC that day 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.560 meeting with members of the Senate, I asked them, Okay, 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.679 is there a path to fix this after it comes 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:48.280 out of committee? And they basically told me behind closed doors, 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:50.720 if this comes out of committee where a bipartisan vote, 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:52.800 we can't really help you on the full Senate floor. 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.240 And so I felt like I had to stand up 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:59.040 and say something defending our customers' rights. And I was 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:01.280 careful not to appunt on what the Senate should do 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.280 in terms of a markup or not, and I was 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:05.359 careful not to say anything. We don't represent the whole 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:07.720 crypto industry, but from a coinbase point of view. I 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.600 was not comfortable with the draft text as written, and 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:13.600 I'm glad that everyone came back for another round of negotiation. 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.840 Well, other people have been saying stuff, so since we've 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.320 we're going here now. A journalist from Crypto in America said, 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:23.240 a White House source told her this is President Trump's bill, 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:25.760 not Brian Armstrong's spill at the end of the day, 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:27.480 and that the White House is going to pull out 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:28.919 if you don't come back to the table you push 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:31.120 back on this. What's really happening? 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:33.600 Oh yeah, I mean this is not our bill. 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:36.600 Actually, I give all the credit really to the Senate, 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.280 and certainly President Trump has said that this is a 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.920 core part of his crypto agenda. So my impression is 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:45.320 that the White House is fully leaned in here and 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:47.360 wants to get something done, as do we, as do 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.680 the bank CEOs that I met with today. So I'm 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.600 not seeing any real barriers here. There's some people who 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:55.120 are a little grumpy. I think they got caught off 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.880 guard that we didn't support the draft as is. But 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.000 it's kind of like that metaphor of you know, three 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:04.280 blind people looking at an elephant and everyone's trying to 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.320 figure out. You know, there's probably somebody in the ministration 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:08.920 who had that point of view, but that's not the 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.320 people we're speaking with. I don't think have taken that approach. 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.120 They actually very much want to get this done. 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.479 Now there's this ongoing fighter about whether platforms can reward 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:20.359 customers for holding sable coins, which coin is does The 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:24.080 banks have argued this is a deposit flight risk. Is 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.360 that the real sticking point? And what do you think 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:28.359 about the flight risk concern? 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.480 Yeah, so that's certainly one of the core parts of 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.599 the debate. I think that some of the bank CEOs 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:36.800 I've spoken with have kind of said, hey, we have 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.240 this really high regulatory burden with being a bank, and 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:43.440 what you're doing kind of looks like a bank, and 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:45.080 so we think it's super unfair you should have to 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:48.159 have a bank license too. And what I tell them is, well, 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:50.880 we're not doing something very important that you do. We 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.080 do not do fractional reserve lending, which means, for those 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:55.880 who don't know, you know, at a bank you deposit 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:59.240 your funds, they're not keeping your money there, they're actually 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.800 lending it out, earning interest on that, and then they 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.440 pay you a very small percentage of that, like the 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.240 average savings account makes like fourteen basis points or something, 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:09.200 and that's called net interest margin. 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:10.679 And that's the whole bank business model. 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:12.839 And so that's why they have such high regulatory burden, 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:14.680 because there can be a run on the bank, Like 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.520 your money is not all there in a crypto world, 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.200 there's a one hundred percent reserve, so all your money 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:23.720 is there. It eliminates this entire category of risk around 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:26.400 a bank run. No such thing as possible if there's 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:28.760 one hundred percent of the money there. And so we 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.760 don't need a bank license. We're regulated by the SEC, 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:35.160 the CFTC. We you know, we have a National Trust Charter, 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.960 like there's different entities and stable coin issuers can operate 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:41.320 under these models as well. And so we've kind of said, 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.240 you know, we don't need a bank license. That's what 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:47.440 currently already exists in the law. The Genius Act even 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.560 enshrined that further. And so there has to be some 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:52.920 other solution here. How do we flip the banks from 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.200 thinking of this as a threat to an opportunity where 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:56.039 we can all go win. 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:01.280 Let's talk about the opportunity. You know, we started off 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:04.000 talking about how crypto has had a lot of momentum lately. 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:06.360 A lot of that was when crypto was on a tear. 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:08.880 The markets have definitely pulled back over the last couple 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.160 of months. So here, I know this is always your 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:13.800 favorite question, but is winter coming? 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.400 Well, there's always short term fluctuations in crypto, but I 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:20.400 think you know, if you look over the last two years, 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.880 bitcoin's up like one hundred percent, pretty great outcome for 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.520 anybody who invested. You know, I've said publicly I think 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:28.839 that bitcoin could hit a million dollars by twenty thirty. 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.520 I still think that's true. So whatever happens in any 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:33.600 given week or month, you know, we try it to 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:36.440 track it too much. It's the longer term trend that 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:37.160 I think is interesting. 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:38.880 So bitcoin hit an all time high last year one 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.480 twenty five, one hundred twenty five thousand. What about twenty 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:43.440 twenty six. Let's do a shorter term for horizon. Where 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:44.839 is it going in twenty twenty six? 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:46.599 Well, you know, I don't like to make short term 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:50.080 predictions because who knows. It's the market, you know, short 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:52.960 term voting machine, long term wing machine, or whatever. So 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.960 I think I don't think people should be like day trading, 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.720 you know, unless you really want to do that. 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:01.719 I'm more of a buy and hold kind of guy. 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.280 For the long term, and I think that the cool 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.000 thing about bitcoin is that it doesn't unlike fiat currency. 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.840 There's no money printer, right, so the supply of it 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.960 is fixed. It's finite, and so as more people integrate 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.239 crypto and use crypto, there's more demand and finite supply. 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:18.600 That only means the price that it can go up. 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:20.400 That's why I said by twenty thirty, I think it 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:21.320 could hit a million dollars. 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.160 So you wrote a forward to a new paper this 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.800 week that talks about the tokenizations of things like stocks 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.600 and bonds, and it's sort of like, you know, you 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:33.720 believe that this gives people access to things capital markets 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:35.920 that they wouldn't have otherwise had. So, you know, for 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.440 the average person at home who might think that the 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.120 stock market is this exclusive club and they can't get in, 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:43.120 what's your vision here. 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.640 Yeah, So tokenization is kind of a buzzword right now, 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.400 and it is really important as a trend because the 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:52.200 same thing that happened with stable coins, where you know, 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.120 a dollar got tokenized and now suddenly people all over 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:57.400 the world can use it, and there's fast, cheap global payments. 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:00.560 The same thing is now happening in the equity market 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.760 and every kind of asset class really that people might 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.679 want to invest in. So there's about four billion adults 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.600 right now who are unbrokered. You know, some people have 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.200 heard about being unbanked. There's also about four billion people 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.240 who are unbroken, meaning that they don't have any way 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:19.200 to invest in high quality assets, whether that's American tech 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:22.240 companies or the latest black Rock or Apollo fund. 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:23.360 Or anything like that. 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.600 And so when you tokenize it, there's a bunch of 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:30.840 efficiency gains, but it's also about just democratizing access. And 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:33.760 you know, there's sort of like this balance between you know, 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.480 capital and labor, right and for people who only make 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:40.120 their income from labor, they're oftentimes left out of this 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:42.480 wealth creation engine, which is the ability to invest some 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.960 of their hard earned money in high quality assets. So 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.440 that's what we're trying to do with tokenization of every 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:48.080 asset class. 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.280 President trumpas said he wants to be the first crypto president. 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.959 You've been to a few events with him, He's contributed 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.079 to the ballroom the inauguration. How much time do you 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.079 spend with him. What is your relationship like when you're 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.679 advocating for how does he respond? 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.040 Yeah, well, I do think he's done a good job 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.880 of being very crypto forward and helping get some clear 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:13.480 rules and legislation pass I go to DC about once 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:16.080 a quarter, but that's not really usually to meet with 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:18.360 the President's it's to meet with members of the Senate, 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.440 our regulators, members of the House. When the bill was 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:27.599 going through there alago, No, not yet, but yeah, I 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:32.240 mean I've met him a few times and found him 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.040 to be constructive on this issue, and I think that 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.480 if this market structure bill doesn't get moving, you know, 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:40.280 he may have something to say about that. And I 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.760 think it's part of his agenda to get this second 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:43.920 piece of legislation through. 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:46.400 But what are you advocating for when you do have 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:47.880 time with him, and you do have time with the 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:48.679 White House. 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:53.760 Getting crypto legislation passed, that's pretty much all we talk about. 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:57.679 But legislation that you like, Well, it should be fair 0:09:57.760 --> 0:09:59.640 for everybody so American companies can win. 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.520 That's what he cares about. I think, yeah, well, let's. 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:04.560 Talk of that about that, because clear rules of the 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.640 road is obviously very important, but a Trump and Malania coin, Like, 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:08.720 where do you draw the line. 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:12.880 Yeah, well, you're getting a little above my pay grade 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.160 on this. I think the Senate, you know, the Senate 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.400 is deliberating this back and forth. There there's arguments on 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:23.439 both sides. You know, there's like ethics rules. 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:24.439 That are already in law. 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:28.680 There's there's ways that presidents and elected officials raise money, 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:33.400 like some they sell t shirts or whatever. Our democracy 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.160 needs to figure this out. It's it's not our it's 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:36.000 not our main focus. 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:39.360 Okay, well, let's talk about that democracy. Stable coins are 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.360 very popular in Venezuela, for example, crucial part of the economy. 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.559 And there's this sort of lingering question will cryptos sort 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:49.080 of be isolated to emerging markets at least in a 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:53.560 more mainstream way. Will will they really break out in? 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.640 What countries are you seeing the most traction and what 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:57.560 kind of traction. 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.440 Well, you're right that there are emerging markets where people 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:06.440 have the least access to financial services and so they 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:08.160 have kind of the biggest pain point, and we are 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.560 seeing a lot of adoption I think by some metrics, 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:13.040 like places like India and Turkey and Nigeria are actually 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:16.480 like per capita, some of the biggest adopters of crypto. 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:18.760 But it doesn't mean it's not going to be used 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:22.160 in the United States. I mean, we started in the US. 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:24.679 It's still the vast majority of our revenue, you know, 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:27.480 we have there's something like fifty two million Americans who've 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:30.000 actually used crypto at this point, so it's a massive, 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.280 massive user base. I guess what we're seeing now is 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:38.319 that people are using Coinbase as more like their primary 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:40.760 financial account. There's kind of the younger generation who are 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:44.000 growing up and they want to be able to, you know, 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.439 deposit their paycheck trade crypto, but they also want to 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.040 trade stocks, they want to trade prediction markets, they want 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.360 to trade commodities, you know, they want to send money 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:54.640 instantly anywhere in the world and maybe get alone and 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:58.439 they can just get access to better financial services through 0:11:58.440 --> 0:11:59.880 an app like Coinbase. 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:01.840 And so that's what we're trying to build. 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:03.960 Whether we call that the everything exchange, where it's like 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.120 literally every asset class tradable on one platform. So it's 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:09.240 just this is a way to update financial services, and 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.600 that's very much a US phenomenon as well. 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.360 You've said developers who don't use AI at Coinbase will 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:19.080 be fired how are they using AI or how are 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:22.360 they supposed to be using AI? And what's the AI strategy? 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:25.480 Is anyone not using AI? 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.640 I think everyone is at this point. I mean, at 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.480 least they're trying, right, and so that's all we ask. 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.520 I mean, we want us to stay on the forefront 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.120 of these tools. You know, we do have about fifty 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.560 percent of our code being written by AI now, but 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.640 of course with human review and strong security controls, and 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.560 then it's answering about sixty percent of our customer sport tickets. 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.400 I believe we're using it to automate some back office 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.160 functions like compliance. But I actually think the most maybe 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:52.040 the most interesting thing, because you know, AI and crypto, 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.280 I think are the two most important technology trends happening 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:55.840 in the world right now, and a lot of people 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:59.840 don't realize they're actually quite complimentary. Because AI agents, increasingly 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:01.600 new need to go get work done in the world, 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:05.360 which includes making payments and in the traditional financial system, 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:06.880 you know, to get a credit card or bank count 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.960 or something, all the rules and rigs are built around 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.480 identifying a human being who's linked to that underlying account 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.319 or card. And in this new world, AI agents need 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:18.640 their own wallets to go and make payments, and so 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:21.040 we believe that stable coins and crypto wallets are going 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:24.280 to be the default payment mechanism of AI agents. And 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:26.400 we've actually built some really cool tools that people have 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:30.320 now started to integrate. So eventually, I think AI agents 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:32.960 are going to make more transactions every day than humans. 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.599 Do you see them, you know, in crypto managing portfolios, 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:37.680 executing trades. 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.760 Yeah, we launched a prototype of an app or a feature, 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.240 beta feature I should say, called coin Based Advisor, and 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:47.959 it does help people do these kinds of services that 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.760 are typically available need to networth clients, right, you could say, 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:54.239 you know, heart tax loss harvesting and rebalance my portfolio 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.360 and notify, you know, notify me if the market goes 0:13:57.400 --> 0:13:59.480 down and there's some good opportunities, and so we do 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.040 have an AI agent service that people can use for that. 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:06.040 Now you've entered the prediction markets and the you know, 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.360 associated legal battles. How does this play out and what's 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:11.960 the opportunity for coinbase. 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:15.040 Yeah, Well, so it's part of our Everything's change vision. 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:17.320 We think everything should be tradable, but prediction markets are 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.320 of this really important new emerging category. 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.960 So i'd say, prediction markets. There's a few parts to it. 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.000 So some of it, frankly is people, you know, betting 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.280 on these outcomes and sporting games and things like that. 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:29.600 That's okay, that's one thing. 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.800 The more intellectually interesting part of it to me is 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:37.280 that people are also betting on what's going to happen 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:39.640 in the next week or two, almost as an alternative 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.840 to traditional media. You know, sorry not to create a 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.440 competitive thing here, and they're trying to. So it could 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:47.320 be on a political election, it could be what are 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.520 interest rate's going to be next quarter? It could be 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:51.600 is the Suez Canal going to be reopened? Because I 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:55.000 need to understand if I can put my ships through 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:58.680 there as a multinational And so people are just trying 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:00.360 to figure out what is true, what is going to 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:02.640 happen in the future, And what we've found is that 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.160 there's much higher signal when people have to put skin 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.240 in the game with real money. So I think that 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.160 prediction markets are potentially an alternative to traditional media in 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.120 some way. The other crazy idea that could emerge here 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.800 is that I think policy legislators will use it to 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:20.640 understand what policy could be best. So, for instance, if 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.080 there's three proposals, and you want to say which one 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.120 is going to lower unemployment the most. You can actually 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:28.560 put those proposals out where if they aren't acted, and 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:29.800 this happens, you. 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:30.920 Could get a payout. 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.720 The market will basically give you very clear feedback about 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.800 which policy they most believe should be implemented, and maybe 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.280 that helps legislators decide what to do. 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.920 As you mentioned, just striving to be this everything exchange, 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:48.200 not just prediction markets, but you know, you know trading essentially, 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.240 Robinhood and others got their first. How much traction are 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:53.080 you seeing in some of these newer products. 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:57.280 Yeah, well, we just announced stock trading on coinbase prediction 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:01.960 markets back in December, and we've seen really rapid growth 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.880 of that since then. You know, we also have a number, 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.160 we actually now have millions of assets, believe it or not, 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:10.800 crypto assets you can trade on Coinbase, so it's far 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.400 ahead of the competition one you mentioned in others. And 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.960 we also allow people to trade CFTC regulated perpetual style 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.920 futures on Coinbase, which is which is unique. So I 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.120 would say we caught up on the things that we 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:26.080 were behind on, and we're actually pretty far ahead on 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:26.800 some of the other ones. 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.920 President Trump pardon the founder of Finance. Speaking of competition, 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:33.840 there's speculation they might try to re enter the United States. 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:36.040 How are you preparing for that? 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.760 Well, there's a number of crypto companies that grew up 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:43.640 internationally that have tried at various points to come into 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:44.160 the US. 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:47.359 So far they haven't been successful. 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:49.640 I mean, we have the strongest brand and the most 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:51.960 trusted brand in crypto, certainly in the US and a 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.880 number of other countries where we're the leader. The way 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.400 I think about this is that our strategy really we 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.160 call it like our asset accumulation strategy. So because we 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.320 have the most trusted brand, people feel comfortable storing their 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:02.960 assets with us. 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:04.800 We now have about half a trillion. 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:08.199 Dollars of assets, and assets tend to be pretty sticky, 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:10.479 you know, people don't move them very often. And if 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.840 you the more products you can connect into those those assets, 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:15.320 people are less. 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:16.040 Likely to churn, right. 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:18.439 So that's why we're offering more trading products and defive 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.880 borrow leend and coin based card and all these kinds 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:24.400 of things, and so we can monetize better. The more 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.359 products we have plug into those assets, we can invest 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.679 that back in Backing being the most trusted and this 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:31.840 asset accumulation fly will just accelerate. 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.800 So we're storing more crypto assets. 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:36.240 Than any other company in the world I'm aware of, 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:38.040 by a pretty wide margin, and I think that's going 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:39.440 to be defensible for a long time. 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:44.320 You know, there's you know, we talked earlier about winter, 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.040 and there is this concern that there's a downturn for 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.520 the crypto market coming. You know, are you doing anything 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.600 to prepare for that? You know, in an historically Coinbus 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.119 has been an acquirer in some of these situations. Do 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:59.240 you see the potential to make some big buys or like, 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.120 you know, potential opportunity to consolidate. 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.159 Yeah, Well, for just to be clear, I'm not necessarily 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:07.440 seeing a crypto downturn coming. 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:08.960 I'm the sure. I think there's just. 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.320 Concern because prices have dropped that this could signal that 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.880 maybe we're in for some more extended lower prices. 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.800 To me, that just sort of happens every every month. 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.119 It's either up or down. So I don't know, I 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.240 don't think about it too much. But we did acquire 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:28.000 I believe ten companies last year, and yeah, there's opportunities 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:30.600