Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong discusses how major traditional financial institutions have begun embracing cryptocurrency infrastructure.
Opinion
Armstrong: Gensler and Warren unlawfully tried to kill US crypto
“And so it turns out in the past, this ambiguity about where crypto assets set, you know, sit between the two federal regulators, that lack of clarity was really weaponized and by Gary Gensler, the former SEC chair, and Elizabeth Warren and people like that who…”
Opinion
Armstrong: Elizabeth Warren is a socialist who wants government running financial services
“Well, ok, so Elizabeth Warren is you know, in my view, she's a socialist. She believes the government should be running all financial services.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Armstrong: Members of Congress told me Warren asked Gensler to curtail crypto
“My understanding, this is kind of what other people in the Congress told me, is that she asked Gary Gensler to go hard on crypto and like try to really curtail it in the United States.”
Assertion Supported
Armstrong: Around 300 Coinbase employees staged a walkout over BLM stance
“This erupted in Slack and basically 300 employees did a walkout. In protest.”
Disclosure
Armstrong: Coinbase stays strictly apolitical unless an issue impacts crypto mission
“Outside of work, people can do whatever they want. You can go protest. You can be left or right or whatever. But just inside the workplace, we're not going to be political. We're just going to focus, unless it has to do with our mission, crypto and economic fr…”
Assertion Partly supported
Armstrong voted against building USDC before it generated ~$800M in revenue
“There's actually been examples where I voted no on something and it turned out to be a massive success. And an example of that is like USDC, which is the stable coin. I actually, Embarrassed to admit, I voted no on that idea. Luckily, somebody else funded it o…”