Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is entering a battle with regulators after the SEC sued his company Tuesday. The SEC alleges Coinbase broke the rules by listing crypto tokens subject to securities laws.
He sat down with The Wall Street Journal to discuss the situation, saying he hopes the lawsuit will bring more clarity to the industry in this full, extended cut of the interview.
0:00 Armstrong’s interpretation of the law
2:30 Armstrong’s decision to push ahead on adding tokens despite risk
5:22 How Armstrong defines a security
9:10 Are all of Coinbase’s listings crypto commodities?
14:02 Coinbase’s process of selecting which assets to list
15:18 Did Coinbase become looser with standards?
17:40 Armstrong’s thoughts on the Howie test
20:14 The line between commodities and securities
22:32 Will Coinbase ever go to the rest of the world?
24:56 Armstrong’s relationship with the SEC chairman
26:36 Armstrong’s dream regulatory structure for crypto
#Coinbase #Crypto #WSJ
45 Comments
It will be important for Brian to speak about Gensler's video when he was teaching a university course where he specifically says most cryptos are not securities. I think it would be a key issue to bring up in court.
Great interview. Brian has really grown into his unwanted role as the leader for sane and clear crypto policies in the US. He represents himself and the industry very well.
gary gensler for the woodchipper
the laws written for commodities and securities were made in the 1940s and was created as a result of court case against a company who sold oranges. The argument was about a company who sold fruits such as oranges. As a result of the case ending, the howey test was created to determine if the sale of stock could be security or a commodity. You might hear their are “three main prongs of the howey test” to reach a conclusion. Gary Gensler chair of the SEC has been applying the howey test to crypto. In the original court case from the 1940e, it was to determine the sales of oranges to a security or commodity. How can a law created 80 years ago, before computers existed, be used for cryptos. Gary gensler should know this considering he used to teach blockchain technology at MIT. The howey test needs to be extended to consider and clarify the details and nuances for a new asset class. Gary is using ambiguity of law to enforce action on other companies. The SEC does not have the authority to determine something to be a commodity or a security but it can have an opinion. This is where the “lack of clarity” comes in. CFTC and SEC are in conflict. Especially since bull hinman, a previous SEC chairman determined ETH and BTC to be commodities, and yet the analysis is still in question. SEC sues everyone except the one company that needed to be sued which was FTX. And yet Gary was Sam Bankman Fried’s MIT professor, SBF was dating Caroline Green, daughter of Gary’s Boss. FTX was mingling funds from Alomeda, ran by Caroline. Gary and SBF had a weekly itinerary. So how did Gary not know about these illegal activities?
The SEC has gone rogue
Relist xrp
Whoever is Pro crypto gets my love. Is what it is.
Staking is a scam. He knows he's been selling pump and dump ponzi schemes.
Bitcoin is the only legit asset in the space and he knows it
coinbase app is great and their monthly subscription is worth it. coinbase is awesome.
hope the hearing will be open and the blockchain gets much more exposure and appreciation, SEC is totally lost and acting in harmful way
ITS TIME TO FIGHT FOR CRYPTO , WE ARE UNDER ATACCK
As soon as he compared baseball cards to apple stock and compared that to crypto,
I stoped listening and brian armstrongs face gave the “this guy doesn’t know what the fk he is talking about” look.
I stopped watching the interview at that point.
This guy doesn’t know anything and isn’t qualified for the interview.
Patrick Boyle: The SEC Comes For Crypto!
One of the better interviews I've seen in a while. Great job to both Charles and Brian. Huge props to WSJ for making this and pressing the important topics.
The interviewer is not good 👎🏽
What he should worry about is to stop promoting pump and dump scam coins , which, in some cases his company also profited from.
They mask scams like “innovation”
I have 0 sympathy for the crypto industry, even though I strongly believe Bitcoin will survive the incoming recession.
I would not put a cent in any crypto coin that has a CEO.
Gary Glenser is making a clear path for CBCD which is launching in July.
Brian listed unregistered securities on his platform, to which creators and VCs made a killing getting in at the ground level, using platforms like Coinbase and Binance to shill their investments to uneducated retail customers, then dumped during the height of the bitcoin bull market. I don’t feel sorry for Brian. The SEC will be going after token creators and VCs next mark my words.
Thanks, WSJ. I, for one back Coinbase in this matter. I am a full supporter of crypto and want to see this industry thrive in the US. Anything else is criminal. Period
Don't give in Brian … We The People Need You . If You don't stand strong , who will . I have my life's saving on your platform, right now im down 65% from what i have invested… if i had to pull out now , im doomed.
Is it true that Gary Gensler shorted bitcoin before suing Binance and Coinbase
Who knew our crypto Jesus wouldn’t even have hair
I purchased my first ever crypto asset, Litecoin, from Coinbase back when they offered only Bitcoin, Etherium & Litecoin. I've been a customer since then. I'd like to say thank you Mr. Armstrong for what you are doing in the crypto industry and good luck this coming week.
Correction: this is Professor X or the Hitman, not the CEO of Coinbase.
One thing is regulate markets and the other is manipulate market
Hold your cryptos till 2030 all cryptos to Wallet and beware of Gary ganes manipulation we know he works for the 4 banksters
Hold your BTC eth solana Atom link and hedera long long term dont sell your cryptos sooooooo low.. they want your taxes .. f.. them
Crypto is a mean to commit fraud. It's like the existence of a shell company. Its purpose is to evade, hide and mislead accountability.
Good conversation
How did SBF get multiple in person meetings while committing fraud and potentially money laudering, but Coinbase has never gotten one? 🤔 Thats some of the sketchy things the SEC is doing. Why is Gensler even the chair after he met and had to recuse himself from the fraud that occurred while being the chair of the CFTC? Seems regardless of the position he is always involved in some way with the fraudsters. Why does he keep getting placed in these positions by democrats? I which the media would focus more on those facts.
This guy is the hero we need to bring Gensler of his high chair … #BTC #ETH #CRYPTO #STOCKS #Congress #Law #News #AAPL
The sec are the real criminal here!
You should do some pieces on the spam/scam comments on youtube, there are tons under each video related to crypto. Even under this one there are scammers promoting ttheir telegram groups. Super annoying and malicious.
A security is a assets tradable for dollar profit but us only has DEBT dollar explained below, sec is wrong, THE ONLY DIGITAL ASSET THAT EXISTS IN USA LAW IS DOLLARS DIGITAL PUBLIC DEBT VALIDITY. (THE ONLY PHYSICAL SECURITY THAT EXISTS IN USA IS Article 1 section 10 "NO STATE SHALL MAKE ANYTHING BUT SILVER AND GOLD US MINTED COIN A TENDER IN PAYMENT OF DEBTS"). US DEBT Dollar is physical and Digital. (Physical dollar BILL was with gold standard, digital dollar is fed borrowed digital dollars which ended physical bank reserves requirement)
Section 4 of 14th Amendment of USA Constitution. "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions & bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned".
BITCOIN ISNT A GRIFT, the multi-factor verification of btc is a secure storage of value transfer and transaction confirmation and tracking.
CREATING & MINTING LEGAL TENDER IS ONLY A POWER OF CONGRESS, only congress can make crypto a digital coin but it has not.
Article 1 Section 8 THE CONGRESS SHALL HAVE POWER To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
(ONLY ELECTED CONGRESS HAS THE AUTHORITY TO REGULATE CRYPTO and we will not vote for anyone thats anti crypto nor wishes to centralize crypto)
Article 1 section 10 NO STATE SHALL MAKE ANYTHING BUT SILVER AND GOLD US MINTED COIN A TENDER IN PAYMENT OF DEBTS. yes the usa dollar has never been a legal tender no usa can treat it as such, but it became PUBLIC DEBT VALIDITY when fed revoked the gold standard leaving behind the promissory note iou debt dollar bill.
THIS IS THE US DOLLAR PURE PUBLIC DEBT VALIDITY
AND ALL PUBLIC DEBT DOLLARS DEPOSITED INTO BTC OR ANY CRYPTO RUNNING OF US DOLLAR "shall not be questioned"
THERE ARE NO SECURITIES IN USA AS US DOLLAR IS PURE DEBT VALIDITY.
DEBT IS NOT INCOME, DEBT IS NOT CURRENCY, DEBT IS NOT PROFIT.
I cant wait for the Hinman emails get released this coming week. Screw the SEC
Brian is a bit like SBF. He just repeats and never really answer any question directly
It is not the Secs job to stop you from breaking the law. Its the Businesses job to ensure their products are following the law. When XRP is listed as a security, it wont be because the SEC said it was, it will because the courts said so, aka THE LAW. Meaning no laws are being changed, they are just being enforced. These crypto scam companies are going to use Congress to overrule the judges LAW. There is no reason for any single crypto coin that a business has any control over. Bitcoin requires energy to make, aka MONEY and work. These crypto noobs think they can just buy some program a company makes, and then get rich without doing anything.
Stop scamming people, close all centralized cryto exchanges.
Dont forget, all the SEC wants, is for these SCAM companies, to send you quarterly paperwork!
Why would a customer help a business hide their financial information from them?
Gensler is trying to assure that the US gets left behind. Sen Warren got what she wanted.
The WSJ just backing the government like always. No real journalism there.
I got faith in Brian!!!!
The SEC is purposely not giving crypto clarity, manipulating the market, and not protecting consumers.
Its weird that america is willing to give up leadership and countless billions of dollars each year in favor of a semantic bureaucratic dispute between 2 government agencies. How stupid can you be. Who the f cares about this garbage ? Nobody else does, on the entire planet.
Declaring something a security and then prosecuting retroactively for actions prior to the definition?
The SEC's actions are outrageous. These lawsuits should immediately be thrown out of court.
Gensler is clearly a puppet for the incumbent players. This happens every time a disruptive technology shows up. Regulators try and make it as difficult as possible for them to succeed. They try but always fail, assuming the technology is really disruptive. In this case it is.
Bonjour de la France, qui Panic Sell ici ?
Bitcoin would resemble a security more than any other. It’s a store of value. Where as a token like cardano, while people trade value, it’s aim use is to interact with the blockchain. It just shows Gensler is the banks B****, hurting consumers who hold crypto under the lie “we are protecting consumers”