“Every institution is now starting to hold crypto,” according to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who also emphasizes that “the asset class will be a standard part of every diversified portfolio.” In addition, the CEO mentioned that in the future, organizations will use cryptocurrency for other purposes, like “holding it on their balance sheet, paying their vendors, [and] doing payroll.”
Brian Armstrong Discusses His Crypto Outlook
During last week’s Q4 earnings call, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong discussed his outlook for the cryptocurrency market and the potential impact that spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will have on his exchange.
Armstrong continued, “We’ve always said that ETFs would be a win-win for Coinbase, and we’re starting to see that play out on our platform.”
We therefore secured 8 out of 11 spot bitcoin custody mandates from issuers in advance of this launch, and as a result, Coinbase Custody currently holds around 90% of the $36 billion in assets in bitcoin ETFs.
“This will allow fresh funding sources to enter the cryptocurrency market, with Coinbase serving as a pivotal player in this regard. The CEO of Coinbase stressed, “We’re making money from trading and financing in addition to custody. Since bitcoin has surpassed silver to become the second-largest ETF commodity in the United States, we have already witnessed a lot of demand.
Armstrong went on:
Thus, we’ve witnessed net inflows of nearly $4 billion into spot bitcoin ETFs across the board for the industry. Record-breaking are the bitcoin ETFs.
The gold market took a year to reach $3 billion after its inception in November 2004. Within a few weeks, these ETFs achieved it. Therefore, this is a really amazing start,” the CEO of Coinbase explained. Actually, this is only the beginning. Some of these issuers are beginning to file for Ethereum ETFs, for instance. Five out of the eight applicants for ETH ETF have designated us as the custodian.
“Our first priority will be to drive revenue, especially growing our two largest revenue streams, trading fees and stablecoins,” Armstrong stated, summarizing Coinbase’s “top priorities” for this year. Our continued pursuit of cryptocurrency’s utility will be our second top objective. Finally, we will keep pushing for industry-wide regulatory clarification.
“For anybody worried about cannibalization, ETFs have been positive for the industry, which has been additive for Coinbase,” Armstrong said in response to questions about it. In his opinion:
Even more significant is the fact that all institutions are already beginning to hold cryptocurrency; this asset class will inevitably be included in all well-diversified portfolios.
The financial sector is formally embracing cryptocurrency. Coinbase is by far the most reliable partner here, and this is excellent,” Armstrong continued. The executive emphasized, once again, that he has not yet observed any cannibalization: “We’re seeing elevated engagement and net inflows on both retail and institutional Q1 to date.” Thus, in my opinion, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are a very good thing. The CEO of Coinbase went on to say:
Additionally, it is beneficial for more institutions to dabble in cryptocurrency, whether it be through an ETF or another means, as they will eventually use it for other purposes such as paying vendors, processing payroll, or keeping it on their balance sheet.
“We want the global GDP to be increasingly powered by cryptocurrency. We must take advantage of every chance to get this done. Thus, I believe that ETFs are really beneficial for our company,” Armstrong said.
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