Coinbase, the well-known crypto exchange, has grown beyond the confines of its original business model. Brian Armstrong, the company’s CEO, recently shared an interesting perspective: if Coinbase were to be classified as a bank, it would be the 21st largest in the U.S., managing around $0.42 trillion in customer assets. That is more than some of the biggest names in banking today.
But Armstrong does not stop there. He points out that if Coinbase were considered more like a brokerage, it would actually rank eighth in the country by assets under management. Thus, depending on how you look at it, the exchange is already on a par with some of the major players in traditional finance.
However, when it comes to the payments sector, Armstrong admits it is harder to pinpoint exactly where Coinbase stands. Still, the scale is undeniable — around $30 trillion in stablecoin payments were processed last year, though not all were related to goods or services.
One-stop shop, but it is crypto
The main idea Armstrong shared is that the lines between traditional financial sectors like banking, investing and payments are starting to get blurrier, especially as more people start using crypto.
A lot of these categories are based on old systems that do not really make sense in a digital-first world. It makes no sense for your money to lose value instead of gaining it, as does an investment. Why shouldn’t a checking account earn interest like a savings account, or even short-term treasuries? These are the questions on the mind of the Coinbase CEO.
He thinks that, in the future, people will rely on a single financial account for everything — investing, spending, borrowing and more. This will be possible thanks to the efficiencies of crypto and, as Armstrong believes, could mean lower transaction costs, more stable forms of money and, ultimately, greater economic freedom for people around the world.
