Coinbase CEO is convinced: One billion people will use crypto within this decade

• Coinbase CEO Armstrong and ARK CEO Cathie Wood remain crypto bulls
• Armstrong expects one billion crypto users
• Significant contribution to GDP expected

At the Milken Institute’s Global Conference 2022, Brian Armstrong, head of the crypto exchange Coinbase, gave an optimistic outlook on the development of the crypto market.

One billion crypto users soon?

In a conversation that was also attended by Cathie Wood, head of ARK Invest, Armstrong expressed his belief that the number of people who have used or tested cryptocurrencies will increase from around 200 million today to one billion by the end of this decade become. He also referred to the increased use of Bitcoin & Co. by institutional investors, who are increasingly including digital currencies in their portfolios. “This is a new asset class and you have to form an opinion about it,” continued Armstrong.

Cathie Wood, who is considered an outspoken crypto bull, criticized in this context that regulatory uncertainties in particular are the reason why crypto acceptance in the USA is increasing too slowly. “I would have expected more clarity,” emphasized the star investor. “If we’re not careful, we will [den USA] regulatory arbitrage will take the market away”.

However, Armstrong believes in rapid progress on this topic and referred to a rethinking in politics: “The majority of the people I have met with in Congress – 50% or more – are now pro-crypto, they believe that this is a net worth for society”. One in five Americans have used crypto or tried it in some way, and that number is rising fast. “This is a huge constituency. Being anti-crypto is quickly becoming very unpopular politically,” he added.

Crypto economy expected to make major contribution to GDP

In addition, Armstrong believes that the crypto world will make a significant contribution to the overall economy in the future. “I estimate that in 10 to 20 years a significant portion of GDP will be generated in the crypto economy,” Coinbase CEO said confidently. “People think they may have missed the opportunity if they see Bitcoin at $70,000, but we’re still in relatively early days,” continued Cathy Wood.

Both CEOs see a wide variety of use cases for digital currencies. Armstrong sees the short message service Twitter, which is about to be taken over by Elon Musk, as a case in point. Twitter now has an opportunity to become a leader in decentralized social media, where users’ online identities and content do not belong to a specific platform, but to the users themselves. “I can imagine that there will be a number of startups and other companies that will develop competing decentralized social media products if [Twitter dies nicht tut].”

Armstrong also named crypto cities as an application example for crypto currencies. “Voting on proposals and infrastructure is based on how many blocks of land you own in this community,” Armstrong said. “I think crypto is really going to change the way people come together and create organizations in very profound ways.”

Editorial office finanzen.net

Image sources: Primakov / Shutterstock.com, Burdun Iliya / Shutterstock.com