Despite the recent market pullback and tense legislative battle in Washington, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong remains extremely bullish on Bitcoin (BTC). A cryptocurrency chief told Bloomberg that the flagship coin could soar to $1 million.
“I’ve said publicly that I think Bitcoin could reach $1 million by 2030, and I still think that’s true,” Armstrong said. “So we try not to track too much what happens in a particular week or month. I think it’s the long-term trends that are interesting.”
Armstrong emphasized that Bitcoin’s finite nature makes it different from traditional fiat currency systems.
“The great thing about Bitcoin is… there are no money printing presses, right? So the supply of Bitcoin is fixed and finite. And as more people integrate cryptocurrencies and use cryptocurrencies, the demand increases and the supply becomes finite. That just means the price can go up,” he said.
Armstrong issued a stern warning to onlookers: “If they don’t have at least 5% of their net worth in Bitcoin, they’re going to be pretty sad.”
battle with banks
Coinbase is currently embroiled in a high-stakes political battle over the future of market structure laws. Last week, Coinbase withdrew its support for the Senate bill, a move that shocked Washington. Armstrong said the decision stemmed from what he viewed as a protectionist measure aimed at protecting traditional banks from competition.
“Toradofuri had too many benefits in my opinion,” Armstrong explained. “Our view is that there needs to be a level playing field. This is allowed, this is not allowed. And every company in the United States is competing, and the banks didn’t like that.”
The CEO did not waver on the lobbying activities of existing financial institutions. “Bank lobbies and banking associations are trying to ban competition, and I don’t condone that at all. I think it’s un-American. It hurts consumers. And banks need competition. Banks need to innovate.”
The main friction point involves stablecoins. Banks argue that platforms that reward customers for holding stablecoins create a “deposit flight risk.” Armstrong countered this by drawing a clear distinction between the risk profiles of crypto exchanges and fractional reserve banks.
“We don’t do fractional reserve financing,” Armstrong said. “In the crypto world, all your funds are there because you have 100% reserves. This eliminates the risk of this whole category around attaching attaches. If you have 100% of your funds there, you can’t do that.”