Armstrong: Replace accredited investor wealth rules with financial literacy tests
Brian Armstrong · Brian Armstrong: Rebuilding Coinbase Around Intelligence · Sourcery with Molly O'Shea · Jun 26, 2026 · at 27:00
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong criticizes U.S. accredited investor regulations for concentrating private market investment gains among the wealthy.
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“The accredited investor laws really need to get updated in this country. So for people who don't know what that is, you know, to trade in buy, invest in private companies, you have to become an accredited investor, which basically means you have a certain net worth or income that's quite high. And the intention behind this was quite, was good, and they're essentially trying to protect people from high, high risk, you know, investments or scams, but you have to judge these policies not by their intention, but by the results, and the results have been quite bad. Essentially, it's a, it's like, it makes it so only rich people can get richer. It's like the most regressive tax. Like, typically, we want to have a progressive tax system. You know, rich people pay more. In this case, it totally benefits rich people who can make more money in the private markets And once something is valued at a trillion, then only then can retail trade it. It's completely unfair. And so the better way to do it would be a financial literacy test.”
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