Bitcoin Is Superior To Gold, Says Coinbase CEO
JAKARTA At the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting at Davos on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong expressed the view that Bitcoin (BTC) has a significant advantage over gold as a store of value asset.
According to Armstrong, Bitcoin offers a proven scarcity of gold, but with advantages in the form of portability and the ability to share. "Bitcoin has higher utility than gold," he said.
Armstrong also predicts that in the future, governments around the world will start setting aside at least 1% of their foreign exchange reserves in the form of Bitcoin. He believes that this move can develop further to surpass the value of gold reserves, given Bitcoin's strategic role as a hedge against inflation and potential for the digital economy in the future.
Armstrong's views are in line with the opinions of a number of important figures in the digital asset sector. Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, in an interview with CNBC in March 2024, called Bitcoin a "digital gold". Saylor views Bitcoin as superior to gold and other traditional assets such as property and stocks. He highlighted Bitcoin's ability to be digitally transferred as a major advantage that conventional assets don't have.
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Meanwhile, Sean Stein Smith, Associate Professor at the City University of New York, also argues that Bitcoin is better than gold. Smith admits that although Bitcoin prices tend to be volatile, technological innovation and its growth potential make Bitcoin different from other financial instruments. He also noted that institutional investors continue to increase their holdings in Bitcoin, showing confidence in the value of this digital asset.
In an interview with CNBC's Squawk Box, Armstrong stated that it is now the beginning of a new era for digital assets, especially with the pro-crypto government in Washington DC. He stressed that the crypto industry is ready to face this change and expects a clearer regulatory presence.
"Coinbase's main priority is to boost revenue, especially through trading costs, stablecoins, and other crypto utilities," Armstrong said. He added that regulatory clarity in this sector will boost the growth of the crypto ecosystem as a whole.
Furthermore, Armstrong invites world leaders to consider establishing Bitcoin's strategic reserves as an effort to protect the economy from the impact of inflation. He stated that Bitcoin could be the foundation for a global economy like gold, even having the potential to become a national security center in the future.