Thread by @brian_armstrong

The world needs crypto, now more than ever.

- Debt is growing exponentially
- Inflation is crippling entire nations
- Economic freedom is declining

It’s time to increase economic freedom globally, with crypto.

Here's how we’re making it happen at Coinbase🧵↓

First, some background/context.

Economic freedom means it's your money. Cutting out middlemen, their high fees, and delays.

It means fast, cheap, global payments for anyone with a smartphone. Crypto is about freedom and individual sovereignty.

The US federal government debt is expanding exponentially. This isn't just a US problem; it's a global one across democracies.

People are feeling a lack of trust in their money and deficit spending.

It's no coincidence Bitcoin prices are at all-time highs. People are turning to Bitcoin as a refuge from inflation and deficit spending.

It will ultimately be a check and balance on this activity. If this continues, Bitcoin could become the next world reserve currency.

While Bitcoin is a store of value, stablecoins are the medium of exchange. The stablecoin market cap is up 50%+ year-over-year, uncorrelated with crypto trading volume.

This is crypto's next daily use case, and it's just the beginning.

At Coinbase, we're focused on driving crypto adoption and growing the total addressable market.

We've always believed this would happen in three phases (below).

Phase 1: Crypto as an investment platform.

We started with Bitcoin, listed more assets, and are now seeing the tokenization of real-world assets.

Last year, RWA tokenization was up over 200x, with $20 billion now on-chain.

Phase 2: Updating financial services.

Take back control of your money.

We're not just putting a new UI on old rails. We're building a new financial system from the ground up: new rails, new money, and new services like Bitcoin-backed loans using DeFi and stablecoin payments.

Phase 3: A platform for the next generation of internet applications.

We're seeing decentralized identity, decentralized social media, and prediction markets take off.

The future of internet applications will be built onchain, allowing value to flow directly to creators without intermediaries and platforms capturing most of the value.

So, what are we doing about it?

At our annual State of Crypto event, our team made four exciting announcements, aligning with these three phases.

These are our most recent steps towards making crypto more accessible and useful for individuals and businesses globally:

1) Coinbase Business, for startups and medium-sized businesses.

Send & receive payments, manage crypto assets, and automate financial workflows in one place.

More: coinbase.com/en-gb/blog/int…

2) A powerful set of payment APIs that bridge stablecoins and fiat currencies across different countries

Proof-of-concept with @Shopify: bringing USDC payments to >1 million stores. Seamless settlement to local currency with 0 FX fees (huge unlock)

More: coinbase.com/en-gb/blog/pow…

3) Expanding our core trading business

→ We're adding options trading, with our recent acquisition of @DeribitOfficial, to spot and futures. Trade all three on one unified platform.

→ Seamlessly integrating DEX trading into our products, expanding from hundreds to ultimately millions of tradable assets.

https://x.com/coinbase/status/1933274988041080859/video/1

4) Coinbase One Credit Card, powered by @AmericanExpress with up to 4% cashback paid in bitcoin

This is the announcement that I’ve got the most messages about - glad to hear people love it!

More: coinbase.com/en-gb/blog/ear…

In summary:

- There are major problems with the current financial system. And they are getting worse.
- Crypto is eating the financial services industry.
- Coinbase is leading the charge.

Let’s do this 🫡

Listen to my full talk from our State of Crypto summit about this here: