Coinbase CEO: “It’s Getting Harder to Find Crypto Skeptics”
Most places in the free world are adopting cryptocurrencies and they rightfully want to protect consumers as it’s being adopted and introduce thoughtful regulations, Brian Armstrong, CEO and co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, told in an interview with Bloomberg.
“They’re certainly not anti-crypto, in fact, it’s the opposite,” he added, noting that “it’s getting harder to find crypto skeptics” among countries.
However, crypto saving countries with economic troubles “may be an exaggeration at this stage,” he says, but people with smartphones and internet nowadays might just see crypto as an alternative.
“In the next 3 to 5 years, you will see countries going into economic crisis […] you could see the organic adoption of cryptocurrencies,” he said. Some countries might block crypto in the way internet is blocked or filtered nowadays, but people will just use VPNs (virtual private networks), in his opinion.
Watch the entire interview below:
In June, Armstrong said that people are needlessly worried about the current dip: “It can be scary the first time you see it, but to us who have been in the industry for many years, it feels like old news.”
Meanwhile, other signs also show that investments are continuing to flow into the crypto ecosystem despite the market meltdown this year.
As Cryptonews.com previously reported, Crypto Fund Research, a research company, announced last week that it expects to see nearly 150 crypto fund launches in 2018, based on the pace throughout the first part of the year. “Total cryptocurrency fund assets could easily double over the course of the year,” it added.
Part of these efforts is Reality Shares, the tiny asset manager known for its blockchain-focused exchange-traded fund, who is preparing to launch a USD 100 million cryptocurrency hedge fund, according to people familiar with the matter. As Business Insider reports, the fund will be capped at USD 100 million with USD 25 million already committed.
Already regular on the list of Wall Street names dipping into crypto are also Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. They have now joined the Series B investment by enterprise blockchain startup Axoni, who has already raised USD 32 million in order to move some of the largest financial infrastructures in the world to Ethereum technology.
Also, banks are probing a new frontier: custody, or the business of keeping financial assets safe and accounted for. According to the Financial Times, analysts say that if the banks get it right, providing services comparable to mainstream custody specialists like BNY Mellon or State Street, they could unlock billions of dollars of investment in crypto from funds required by law to keep assets with a qualified custodian.
