Armstrong says stablecoins, DeFi, tokenized stocks give billions access. 100+ crypto projects shut down in first seven months as consolidation hits.
Alpha Score of 37 reflects weak overall profile with poor momentum, weak value, poor quality, strong sentiment.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong used a Sunday post on X to argue that crypto already delivers on financial inclusion. The defense arrives alongside a run of project shutdowns and a push from the exchange for clearer market rules.
"Crypto doesn't get enough credit for the financial access it's already unlocked for the world," Armstrong said.
He catalogued the channels: stablecoins put the dollar onchain, letting anyone hold a low-inflation currency and send it around the clock for a fraction of a cent. Decentralized finance (DeFi) gives anyone access to credit. Tokenized stocks give exposure to U.S. equities to 4 billion unbrokered people. Bitcoin offers a store of wealth "that can't be inflated away."
A report Sunday counted more than 100 crypto projects that have shut down or gone dark for good in the first seven months of the year. Bankruptcy filings were among the cases. The report traced the shakeout to consolidation in Ethereum's layer-2 ecosystem after a surge three years ago, when new tools made it easier for teams to launch their own chains.
Coinbase is pressing lawmakers to advance the Clarity Act. That bill would divide authority over digital assets between the SEC and the CFTC. Armstrong said during a July 30 earnings call that failure to pass the bill amounts to "business as usual" for the exchange, because regulators can still establish rules administratively. Legislation, he said, matters most by creating durability across future administrations. PYMNTS reported July 30 that Coinbase executives described the company on that call as no longer just an exchange. They pointed to subscriptions, stablecoins, payments infrastructure, and AI-ready blockchain rails.
A week earlier, Armstrong criticized crypto companies that pivot to AI. He called the advice "zero sum, scarcity thinking." Crypto "is infrastructure, the same way electricity or the internet is infrastructure," he said on X. "It doesn't compete with the next big thing, because it underpins it. It's an 'and,' not an 'or.'"
"There's more to do of course," Armstrong said. "Don't forget about how far we've come."
The tokenized equity market has been one bright spot. Bybit recently added Meta and Tesla xStocks as the sector hit $1.48 billion in volume. Tokenized products give unbrokered investors a way into U.S. stocks without a traditional brokerage account.
Drafted by a large language model from the source reporting linked above, then screened by automated publishing checks. It is not read by a journalist before publication. Some articles cite our Alpha Score. Verify prices and figures against the original source. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.