Brian Armstrong is Selling Bitcoin to the G20

Brian Armstrong now has the ear of Wall St, and the incoming administration. But he’s not stopping there. Which is why he’s at Davos, to get other global leaders in his pocket as Bitcoin and crypto takes over the world.

Author

Adam Atlantic
January 23, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Coinbase is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

An average day of trading volume on Coinbase is up around $4.6 billion.[1]

Not bad considering the company is only turning thirteen this year. And over that lifespan there’s been one man at the head of the company, founder, Brian Armstrong.

Today, he’s in Davos, Switzerland, selling the virtues of Bitcoin and crypto to the world’s most powerful financiers, bankers and economic leaders.

Coinbase, From Zero to BlackRock’s Hero

Coinbase is now a publicly listed stock (NASDAQ:COIN) and has a market cap around $74 billion. It is also one of the biggest corporate hodlers of Bitcoin with around 9,000 Bitcoin on the balance sheet (worth approx. $916 million).

They’re also critical to the function of many of the world’s largest Bitcoin ETFs. Coinbase (aside from an exchange) is also what’s called a custodian.

That means, when an ETF like the iShares (BlackRock) Bitcoin ETF must buy Bitcoin for the fund, it’s Coinbase that holds the Bitcoin on behalf of the ETF (and BlackRock).

Of the 11 Bitcoin ETFs that launched in January 2024, Coinbase provided custody for eight of them.[2]

Clearly Brian Armstrong now has the ear of Wall St, and the incoming administration.

But he’s not stopping there. Which is why he’s at Davos, to get other global leaders in his pocket as Bitcoin and crypto takes over the world.

Brian @ Davos

With the US government set to potentially pass into law the creation of a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), this begs the question, who’s next?

The U.S. would not be the first country to adopt Bitcoin (El Salvador takes that crown). But if they approve the SBR, will other global superpowers come next?

Your editor thinks yes, and that’s in part due to Brian Armstrong over in Switzerland at the World Economic Forum’s Davos event.

Brian has been chin-wagging with the world’s banking and financial elites, helping to push the timeline on the world adopting Bitcoin as reserve assets.

In an interview with CNBC this week, Armstrong said,[3]

‘[Bitcoin] is being adopted by more and more institutional customers. ETFs brought in a huge amount of inflow. If we get legislation passed in the U.S. that would be a big milestone. Strategic Bitcoin reserve, if the U.S. took that path probably the rest of the G20 would follow. In fact, you know I’ve discussed with a number of finance ministers here in Switzerland from different countries around the world, just the idea of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, they’re getting more interested in it now because the U.S. is looking into it.’

He has been at panel sessions, backroom meetings, all talking about crypto and how it can help the financial system be cheaper and more efficient. And explaining the merits of Bitcoin both for corporates and for nation states…

The thing you need to take away from all this is the fact he’s there in the first place. That he’s still helping to educate world leaders about Bitcoin and crypto. That alone says a lot to how early we still are.

And it means if you think about the Coinbase journey in just 13 years, and where Bitcoin has gone in 13 short years, just think where they’ll be in another 13.

We are, you are, still early.

Trust in crypto,
Adam Atlantic