Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO, declared at the New Establishment Summit by Vanity Fair that Coinbase generated almost $2 billion in transaction fees. The amount was calculated since the 2012 launch. He added that technology was always the main focus of Coinbase, making this the main reason why the company remained profitable.
Ever since 2017, Coinbase has been profitable. Armstrong said about the profits:
“Most of these profits we’re plowing back into the business to create new products. I sort of think of us as the anti-unicorn unicorn. I want Coinbase to be a company of repeatable innovation.”
Armstrong: Libra Should Be Embraced By US Lawmakers
At the same conference, Armstrong said that he does not understand why the reactions of US regulators were so negative in regards to the launch of Libra. He said:
“I’d really like to see the US embrace this area of innovation. There are a lot of people who are unbanked in the world, who are underbanked. My hope is the US embraces this kind of innovation, even if it comes from a company like Facebook that they’re not necessarily very happy with.”
For those not aware, Coinbase is still a part of the Libra Association, together with 20 other companies. The Libra Association was put under extreme scrutiny by the US lawmakers and even lawmakers from around the world because of the potential to flout regulatory rules and jeopardize user privacy. 7 really high-profile participants were lost by the association as a result, including Mastercard, eBay and Visa.
Criticizing US Lawmakers
This is not the first time Brad Armstrong criticized US officials. He did so with senators as they asked Visa, Mastercard and Stripe to leave the above-mentioned Libra Association. It did seem that these payment giants were pressured into leaving by Sherrod Brown and Brian Schatz, US senators. Armstrong’s exact words:
“Something feels very un-American about this. Two senators writing to Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe to ask them to withdraw from Libra.”
Nobody in the crypto industry can argue with Armstrong’s words.
