Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shared his planned remarks on X after his CNBC appearance was cut short by coverage of Jensen Huang’s resignation from Nvidia. He emphasized that security is the top topic clients are asking about, saying: “Trust and security is more important than ever.” Armstrong noted that seven of the world’s largest banks work with Coinbase, the company holds more than 80 global licenses, and it uses the latest AI models for defense. He added that more than 99% of crypto held by Coinbase is kept in cold storage, with no single person, laptop, or system able to move client funds.
Armstrong said there will soon be more AI agents than humans in the economy, with forecasts showing agents processing $3 trillion to $5 trillion in transactions by 2030. He argued that crypto is an ideal execution rail and said Coinbase is building “the most AI-enabled financial account” as a top priority. The CEO described himself as “incredibly bullish on agentic finance (AiFi).” The growth of this agent economy rests on financial systems free of human friction, with tools such as the x402 open payments protocol and the Base network enabling instant stablecoin micropayments with real-time settlement.
In that context, Armstrong said every public company CEO should want their stock tokenized. He noted that trading volume for tokenized stocks on Base has already surpassed $5 billion, and that tokenized stocks are more accessible and useful than traditional stocks, especially when composed with DeFi. Armstrong also thanked SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig for bringing equity perpetual futures to U.S. traders, saying regulators had put historical agency turf wars aside. Finally, he confirmed that Coinbase Pro, which was closed in 2022, will soon return, adding that “trading in the US is about to level up.”
