The clash between banks and crypto advocates could reshape regulatory landscapes, influencing investment strategies and market dynamics.
CryptoBriefing•Editorial Team26 Jun
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says the exchange remains open to more acquisitions after closing its $2.9 billion Deribit deal.
NewsBTC•NewsBTC Editorial Team25 Jun
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says crypto has bipartisan momentum as the exchange eyes more deals after its $2.9b Deribit acquisition closes.
Armstrong's critique highlights the potential for space-based solutions to drive innovation, challenging Earth-bound regulatory constraints.
CryptoBriefing•Editorial Team19 Jun
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reiterated his long-term confidence in bitcoin, saying he remains long the asset and expects much higher prices by 2030. In comments shared alongside a video, Armstrong described bitcoin as “the new digital gold” and pointed to historical market cycles as part of his outlook. Brian Armstrong Reaffirms Bullish Bitcoin Outlook and […]
Bitcoin.com News•Kevin Helms19 Jun
The CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, severely criticized the upcoming Illinois’ crypto tax law, noting that it could be detrimental to blockchain innovation and employment. Specifically, Armstrong noted that such legislation could force blockchain innovation away from Illinois, creating extra complications for those who develop products based on blockchain technology.
TheNewsCrypto•Lakshya Baskar18 Jun
Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong has made a bullish Bitcoin prediction, calling a likely bottom near $60,000. A BeInCrypto macro model agrees Bitcoin looks cheap here. Two on-chain gauges show the capitulation that marks past bottoms has not arrived. A Coinbase Bitcoin Call Anchored to the Four-Year Cycle The Coinbase Bitcoin call is rooted in
BeInCrypto•Ananda Banerjee17 Jun
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called Monday for an overhaul of the U.S. accredited-investor framework, arguing that wealth-based gatekeeping concentrates private-market gains among the already wealthy. He proposed replacing the net worth and income test with a financial literacy exam, or removing
The Defiant•The Defiant Team16 JunCoinbase CEO Armstrong calls accredited investor rules a regressive tax and proposes a financial literacy test as the fix.
BeInCrypto•Phil Haunhorst16 Jun
Armstrong's critique highlights the need for reform in investor laws, potentially democratizing access to lucrative private markets.
CryptoBriefing•Editorial Team16 Jun
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called for an overhaul of U.S. accredited investor laws, arguing the rules lock ordinary Americans out of the market’s biggest gains. He said companies now stay private far longer, leaving retail investors to buy in only after the upside is gone. Armstrong Targets the ‘Accredited Investor’ Gate In a post on […]
Bitcoin.com News•Shiraz Jagati16 Jun
Brian Armstrong is more bullish than ever on Bitcoin, citing the 4-year cycle and projecting a much higher price by 2030.
BeInCrypto•Phil Haunhorst15 Jun
CoinDesk•Shaurya Malwa15 Jun
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says he remains bullish on Bitcoin as crypto.news reports BTC rebounded above $65,500 after market relief.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has doubled down on his long-term conviction for Bitcoin.
U.Today•Alex Dovbnya15 Jun
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong disclosed three platform-scale metrics on Thursday: approximately $1 trillion in annual stablecoin movement, $20 billion in USDC held on platform, and more than 160 million autonomous transactions via the x402 agentic payments protocol in the last year.
The Defiant•The Defiant Team11 Jun
A version of this story appeared in The Decentralised newsletter on May 5. Sign up here. GM, Tim here. Decentralised finance is notorious for being home to some pretty wacky ideas with dubious commercial viability. Yet over the past year, developers have stumbled on one that not only works, but also happens to be quite profitable: letting users buy and sell virtual versions of trading cards. Onchain marketplaces that allow users to speculate on the prices of Pokémon, One Piece, and sports cards have soared over the past year. They generated a combined $11 million in revenue last month, according to data from DefiLlama, generated on its new Pro dashboard . Revenue on DeFi TCG marketplaces is up more than 9X year-over-year, with top marketplaces generating over $11M in April. Chart created with DefiLlama Pro pic.twitter.com/3pUpFnQMhM — DefiLlama.com (@DefiLlama) May 4, 2026 That’s no small sum for an idea that was basically unproven just over a year ago. The success comes as trading cards — particularly Pokémon — continue their popularity. Nostalgia, financial speculation, and a post-pandemic boom in collectibles have caused prices to soar in recent years. Pokémon cards, as measured through the Card Ladder Index, have produced a roughly 4,000% cumulative return since 2004, vastly outperforming the S&P 500, an index of the top 500 US stocks, which is up 513% over the same period. Pokémon card factories are operating at maximum capacity. Despite producing over 10 billion cards annually, they cannot keep up with demand, resulting in ongoing shortages. Packs of cards from popular sets now routinely resell for more than their recommended retail price, fuelling speculation from investors. Logistical issues For avid collectors, buying and selling trading cards comes with a host of logistical problems. Like most markets for collectables, illiquidity makes it difficult to buy and sell at scale, and often involves additional costs such as auction and postage fees. Those issues are exacerbated for those who want to invest larger amounts. It’s not uncommon for investors looking to play the trading card market to buy hundreds of the same card, or shipping pallets of unopened packs in the hope they will be worth more in the future. So, it makes sense for investors who want to trade the red hot market to gravitate to DeFi platforms that offer exposure without having to hold onto the cards themselves. Most platforms work similarly. Users send cards and boxes of sealed packs to the companies, who verify their authenticity, store them, and issue digital versions on blockchains like Solana and Polygon as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. It’s reminiscent of how gold exchange-traded funds made buying and selling the yellow metal cheaper and more accessible, albeit on a much smaller scale. Many platforms also offer so-called gacha machines that mimic the experience of opening packs of cards. Users pay a set price and receive a random card in the machine, which could be of a higher value than the price paid, the platforms say. Redemption delays The question among both investors and those running onchain marketplaces is whether the trading card gravy train will continue. Pokémon card prices have gone up a lot already. Charizard cards from the first ever set of Pokémon cards produced in 1999 can sell for up to $550,000 in perfect condition. The same cards could be bought for between $1,500 and $2,000 around 10 years ago. If prices start to fall, the NFTs that represent the cards could see steeper declines than the rest of the market. Although platforms let users redeem their digital trading cards for real ones, there’s a delay in doing so — the cards have to be shipped to their owners, after all. If investors rush to exit the market, they will likely be willing to sell the NFT cards for less than the current market rate to account for the delay. Yet for now, the trading card mania shows little sign of slowing. Top DeFi stories of the week This week in DeFi governance VOTE: World Liberty Financial supporters vote to unlock tokens for founders, team, and early investors VOTE: Lido DAO votes on proposal to use first-loss mechanism to cover Kelp DAO-related losses VOTE: Arbitrum DAO votes to approve release of Ether frozen following Kelp DAO hack Post of the week Crypto Twitter reacts as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cuts 700 jobs and boasts that non-technical employees at his company are using AI to write and ship code. pic.twitter.com/wS9AkezYg2 — VKTR (@0xVKTR) May 5, 2026 Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com .
Coinbase just cut 700 jobs. But Wall Street is liking what it sees. Coinbase shares popped as much as 4% early on Tuesday morning after the flagship US crypto exchange announced it was slashing about 14% of its global workforce in a sweeping restructuring that refocuses the company around artificial intelligence. CEO Brian Armstrong broke the news in an email to employees, citing two punishing forces: a reeling market still down about $1.5 trillion from its peak, and AI. "Over the past year, I've watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks," Armstrong wrote in the email, which he reposted on X. "Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated." “We’re fundamentally changing how we operate: rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it,” he added. As of December 31, Coinbase had 4,951 employees, according to its 2025 financial report . Based on that figure, the exchange's 14% job cut impacts 693 employees. The move puts Coinbase in company with Meta, which is cutting roughly 10% of its workforce, and Microsoft, which is trimming headcount through a voluntary retirement programme. Across many high-flying tech companies, the logic has been the same. The exchange expects to incur $50 million to $60 million in restructuring charges, mostly recognised in the second quarter. The market's reaction in early hours trading suggests investors view the cuts as a long-overdue reset. Armstrong said he wants no more than five management layers below the CEO, leaders with up to 15 direct reports, and what he bills as "AI-native pods" — small, focused teams where a single person can combine the roles of engineer, designer, and product manager. “The future is small, high context teams that can move quickly,” he said. A familiar story This is not Coinbase's first encounter with the axe. The exchange has cut staff in every major crypto downturn since its launch in 2012, underscoring just how tightly its fortunes remain leashed to the price of Bitcoin and the mood of crypto markets. The current downturn has been particularly bruising. Bitcoin is still down 35% from its October 2025 peak of $126,000, even as the S&P 500 reached an all-time high in April. “We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean,” Armstrong said. Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at lance@dlnews.com
Crypto majors are very red following a red Tuesday across markets; BTC -3% at $88,200; ETH -6% at $2,905, SOL -2% at $127; XRP -2% to $1.88. MYX (+11%) and ZRO (+10%) led top movers. Bitcoin and Solana both fell below key technical support levels as selling pressure accelerated. Over $1B in longs were liquidated during Bitcoin’s slide below $88k. Delaware Life added Bitcoin exposure to a fixed indexed annuity by linking performance to BlackRock’s spot BTC ETF, one of the first big moves to expand crypto access inside traditional insurance products. Trump Media announced plans to airdrop crypto tokens to shareholders in February, marking its first onchain incentive tied directly to equity ownership. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong traveled to Davos to push for a “win-win” U.S. crypto market structure bill amid renewed regulatory momentum. Portugal’s gambling regulator blocked access to Polymarket, citing unlicensed gambling concerns as prediction markets face mounting global scrutiny. The CFTC warned it is underprepared to take on a broader crypto oversight role, as the agency faces staffing shortages after a roughly 21.5% workforce reduction. Galaxy Digital announced plans for a $100M hedge fund targeting crypto and fintech. World Liberty Fi announced its first annual form at Mar-A-Lago on Feb 18.