 Coinbase CEO calls on countries to establish Bitcoin reserves 
2025-01-18
Category: None

Brian Armstrong, CEO of US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has endorsed plans for global leaders to create Bitcoin strategic reserves.
In a Jan. 17 blog post on “economic freedom,” Armstrong said cryptocurrencies were ”the next chapter capitalism,” offering suggestions for policymakers to integrate digital assets into their economies in 2025. 
The Coinbase CEO’s ideas included crypto-friendly laws, government efficiency, special economic zones, and the establishment of a Bitcoin BTCUSD reserve as a hedge against inflation. 
“The next global arms race will be in the digital economy, not space,” Armstrong speculated. “Bitcoin could be as foundational to the global economy as gold and will become central to national security in a world where holdings of Bitcoin can shift the balance of power among nation-states.”
Coinbase deepened its ties to US lawmakers during the 2024 election cycle, contributing more than $45 million to the Fairshake political action committee and donating $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund. 
Armstrong reportedly met with Trump in November to discuss personnel appointments, suggesting the crypto exchange could significantly influence US policy. 
Coinbase vice president of US policy Kara Calvert told Cointelegraph the exchange was “eager to work” with the incoming Trump administration but did not specifically mention plans for a national BTC reserve. 
The president-elect has reportedly floated the idea of making crypto a national priority in 2025, which would purportedly include plans for a BTC stockpile — one of his campaign promises to the industry.
Ongoing legal troubles 
With the leadership of the US Securities and Exchange Commission set to fall under the Trump administration starting on Jan. 20, it’s unclear what the status of legal cases filed against Coinbase — and vice versa — will be going forward. 
The SEC filed an enforcement action against the exchange in June 2023, alleging it had operated as an unregistered securities exchange, broker and clearing agency. On Jan. 7, a federal judge stayed the case until a higher court ruled on an interlocutory appeal.
Separately, Coinbase filed Freedom of Information Act lawsuits against the SEC and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2024 over allegations US government agencies had attempted to debank crypto firms. 
An appellate court will also likely rule on a third legal matter over a 2022 request from Coinbase for the SEC to create “potential rules to identify which digital assets are securities.”