Coinbase Boss Comments On Binance Case: Time To Open New Pages

Coinbase crypto exchange CEO Brian Armstrong. (Photo; Doc. Yahoo Finance)

JAKARTA - Brian Armstrong, CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, discussed the views of the crypto industry following Binance's settlement with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in an interview with CNBC on Monday. Observing that there are "several bad actors in the crypto world."

"Law enforcement action against Binance, it allows us to open a [new] page regarding it and hopefully close the [related] crypto history chapter," said Brian Armstrong.

"This is a good time for us to open the page as an industry and realize that building companies overseas, avoiding regulations, will not work. We've seen now through high-profile companies that are really bankrupt or end up with law enforcement measures that should be," added Armstrong.

The boss of crypto exchange Coinbase added that many crypto companies are trying to grow themselves with responsibility, legal and honest from the start, now have the opportunity to grow as they should.

Armstrong also responded to concerns by some that cryptocurrencies were being used in illegal activities. He also confirmed these concerns and added that the use of cryptocurrencies for illegal activities was less than 1% only.

"It is true that there is some small amount of illegal activity in crypto, but actually less than 1% of what we see. If you look at the use of cash, for example, often 3% or 4%. That's much higher than what happens in crypto," he said.

"So now we've seen millions of people around the world... who use crypto and these are ordinary people," said Brian Armstrong.

According to Armstrong, there are many companies in the crypto world that are trying to build a crypto economy and update the global financial system today. However, most of these companies consist of small startups. Therefore, the clarity of crypto regulation will attract more investment in the crypto space.

SEC Lawsuit

Regarding the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against the Coinbase crypto exchange it leads, Armstrong stated that the current condition is still very good.

"We feel very good about our case with the SEC and our chances there... this is a civil matter, [the SEC lawsuit] is just trying to understand which assets are commodities, which are securities," Armstrong said.

Recently, the SEC has been aggressively filing a lawsuit against crypto companies. Last week, the US regulator accused the Kraken crypto exchange of selling unregistered securities. This happened after the SEC failed to win its lawsuit against Ripple.

Armstrong considers the US to benefit from having two regulators for commodities such as CFTC and securities such as the SEC. Therefore, the Coinbase boss doesn't really care about the outcome because the main goal is to get clarity on crypto regulations in the US.