Coinbase CEO Predicts Crypto User Base Will Rise Significantly Over Coming Years
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, believes the number of people using cryptocurrencies will grow substantially over the next decade. Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference on Monday, he predicted that crypto adoption could increase roughly fivefold in the coming years.
Today, there are more than 200 million cryptocurrency users worldwide. Armstrong expressed optimism that this figure could climb to one billion within the next ten years. He commented:
“My guess is that within 10–20 years, we’ll see a large portion of GDP generated by the crypto economy.”
Coinbase is currently one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. The US-based exchange operates across many countries and is publicly traded in the United States.
Armstrong also highlighted several recent developments at Coinbase. He revealed that the company’s NFT platform already has over 2.5 million users on its waitlist, even though the exchange has not announced a firm launch date for the platform.
Coinbase has been active on the acquisition front as well: it nearly acquired Brazilian crypto exchange 2TM and has agreed to purchase Turkey’s oldest crypto platform, BtcTurk.
Cathie Wood of ARK Invest was another prominent speaker at the conference. She said she sees substantial potential in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. According to Wood, DeFi protocols offer financial services without relying on traditional banks or financial institutions, which is highly compelling. She remarked:
“In the case of DeFi and the next-generation internet, we see many financial firms losing talent to crypto. They need to take it seriously, or they will lose.”
The cryptocurrency market has underperformed in recent months. Since reaching an all-time high of $69,000 in November, Bitcoin has fallen nearly 50% and is now trading around $38,000 per coin.
Total crypto market capitalization stands at about $1.7 trillion, down from the record high of $3 trillion reached in November 2021.