Brian Armstrong founded Coinbase in 2012. Since then, he has built his company into a dominant crypto brand with products that range from wallets to stablecoins to a Bitcoin-themed credit card. Now, Armstrong’s firm is pushing into a decidedly different market: Stocks, where it will compete with the likes of Schwab, Fidelity and arch-rival Robinhood.
The decision to add stocks is part of Coinbase’s plan to be an “everything exchange” where users can invest in stocks, prediction markets and more. The move makes strategic sense for Coinbase as a way to diversify its revenue streams and build a broader base of customers—provided it can pull it off. And that’s far from certain. A recent report pointed out that the share price of Robinhood, which has been blending stock and crypto offerings for years, has significantly outperformed Coinbase in recent years.
Is it too late for Coinbase to catch up? Armstrong doesn’t think so. In a recent interview, he said the company is playing a long game and that, in an era where assets of all sorts are moving to the blockchain, Coinbase will be a cornerstone of the next era of mainstream finance.
“We have deep crypto expertise. We have the most trusted brand in crypto. We’re storing more crypto assets than any other company,” he said. “So I think what we’ll be good at is being the bridge between traditional finance and crypto, and then getting tokenized equities to really take off.”
