Brian Armstrong, CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, thinks that his company made the right decision to comply with United States money transmitter licensing laws.
In a Nov. 21 social media post, Armstrong weighed in on the news that rival exchange Binance is pleading guilty to criminal charges, stating that he is glad his own exchange decided to obtain money transmitter licenses, even though it put the company at a competitive disadvantage.
Since the founding of Coinbase back in 2012 we have taken a long-term view. I knew we needed to embrace compliance to become a generational company that stood the test of time. We got the licenses, hired the compliance and legal teams, and made it clear our brand was about trust…
— Brian Armstrong ️ (@brian_armstrong) November 21, 2023
“I knew we needed to embrace compliance to become a generational company that stood the test of time,” Armstrong stated, adding that his team “got the licenses, hired the compliance and legal teams, and made it clear our brand was […] following the rules.”
Armstrong acknowledged that his team’s compliance strategy slowed the company’s growth, stating that “we couldn’t always move as quickly as others,” as it’s “more difficult and expensive to take a compliant approach.” However, Armstrong claimed his team’s approach was correct because “we believe in the rule of law.”
Related: SEC raises concerns over Coinbase in objection to Celsius restructuring plan
Armstrong also took aim at what he sees as a lack of regulatory clarity in the U.S., which he claims is pushing users to offshore exchanges like Binance. “Americans should not have to go to offshore unregulated exchanges to benefit from this technology,” he stated. However, he also struck a positive tone, claiming that the resolution of the U.S. criminal case against Binance may finally be the “catalyst” for more regulatory clarity.
Armstrong has claimed that U.S. regulations lack clarity and have driven “95%” of crypto transactions offshore. The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed suit against Coinbase for allegedly violating U.S. securities laws. However, these claims aren’t related to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act or money transmitter licensing issues.
On Nov. 21, the Department of Justice announced that Binance has agreed to plead guilty to violations of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act and to serving U.S. customers without obtaining the proper money transmitter licenses.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released its annual report detailing complaints and losses due to scams and fraud involving cryptocurrency in 2024. According to the report released on April 23, the IC3 received more than 140,000 complaints referencing cryptocurrency in 2024, resulting in roughly $9.3 billion in losses. The bureau reported that individuals over the age of 60 had been the most affected by crypto-related fraud, with roughly 33,000 complaints and $2.8 billion in losses. “Last year saw a new record for losses reported to IC3, totaling a staggering $16.6 billion,” said the report. “Fraud represented the bulk of reported losses in 2024, and ransomware was again the most pervasive threat to critical infrastructure, with complaints rising 9% from 2023,” notes the report, adding that, as a group, those over the age of 60 suffered the most losses and submitted the most complaints. The report added that the resultant losses had increased roughly 66% since 2023, from roughly $5.6 billion to $9.3 billion. The most significant percentage of losses occurred due to crypto investment schemes, while the largest number of complaints related to “sextortion” schemes, in which fraudsters manipulated photos and videos to create explicit content. Other scams included schemes involving the use of crypto ATMs or kiosks. Related: Crypto scam uses trade war fears to lure victims, Canadian watchdogs warn In February, the FBI reported its “Operation Level Up” had saved potential victims of crypto fraud roughly $285 million between January 2024 and January 2025. However, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis speculated that 2025 could see the largest number of scams to date, given that generative AI is making the practice “more scalable and affordable for bad actors to conduct.” Globally, Chainalysis estimated that there had been roughly $41 billion in illicit crypto volume in 2024, with roughly 25% of the funds involved with “hacking, extortion, trafficking, or scams.” Some of the most high-profile crimes included the $1.4 billion in crypto stolen from the Bybit exchange in March and North Korean hackers taking more than $1.3 billion. Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently called for “Bretton Woods institutions,” such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to reorient themselves, a signal that the global monetary order could be shifting. Speaking at the Institute of International Finance (IIF) on April 23, Bessent called on the IMF and the World Bank to correct trade imbalances and protect the value of fiat currencies against exchange rate risk. “The Bretton Woods institutions must step back from their sprawling and unfocused agendas,” Bessent said. He added: “The IMF’s mission is to promote international monetary cooperation, facilitate the balanced growth of international trade, encourage economic growth, and discourage harmful policies like competitive exchange rate depreciation.” Bessent’s call for the IMF to correct trade imbalances between countries, specifically the US and China, coincides with a decline in the US dollar to three-year lows, $36 trillion in US government debt, and stiff economic competition from China. Investor and hedge fund manager Ray Dalio argues that the world is experiencing a global macroeconomic shift that will upend the post-WWII financial order and eventually replace the US dollar as the global reserve currency, potentially with a digital form of money. Related: Trump tariffs reignite idea that Bitcoin could outlast US dollar The Bretton Woods Agreement was signed in 1944 and pegged the currencies of 44 countries to the value of the US dollar, which, at that point, was pegged to the value of gold at $35 per ounce. Eliminating complex foreign exchange risks between freely floating currencies to make global trade more efficient was the primary goal of the agreement. In August 1971, US President Richard Nixon announced the end of the dollar’s convertibility to gold — formally ending the Bretton Woods agreement in a move that was supposed to be temporary. “Your dollar will be worth just as much tomorrow as it does today,” Nixon incorrectly told Americans during his now-infamous address. The IMF and the World Bank, which were spawned from the Bretton Woods agreement, continue operating in an attempt to curb the effects of free-floating fiat currencies on the foreign exchange market. Speaking at the White House Digital Asset Summit on March 7, Bessent said stablecoins could drive international demand for US dollars and US government debt instruments. Bessent added that the Trump administration will use stablecoins to protect the US dollar and its status as the global reserve currency. Bitcoin maximalist Max Keiser argued against this plan, predicting that gold-backed stablecoins would outcompete dollar-pegged tokens due to the desire for low-volatility, inflation-resistant money. In March this year, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink wrote that the $36 trillion US national debt could drive investors to Bitcoin (BTC) as market participants start to see BTC as a better store of value than the US dollar. Bitwise executive Jeff Park voiced a similar prediction in February, focused on the effects of US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. The analyst wrote that the tumult from the ongoing trade war would cause worldwide inflation, which would cause individuals to seek alternative stores of value like Bitcoin, driving its price much higher in the long term. Magazine: Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized stablecoins
The Alabama Securities Commission, a financial regulator for the US state, dropped its lawsuit against crypto exchange Coinbase, which accused the company of violating securities laws by offering staking services to clients. The regulator cited the ongoing work between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the crypto industry to develop clear crypto regulations as the primary reason for dropping the litigation, according to the April 23 legal filing shared by Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal. The filing read: “The SEC has announced the formation of a new task force to, among other things, provide guidance for the promulgation of rules regarding the regulation of cryptocurrency products and services.” “Due to the foregoing, the Commission believes it would be apt to allow policymakers time to consider regulatory constructs,” the filing continued. The Alabama Securities Commission filed its lawsuit against Coinbase in June 2023, alongside state regulators from California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The Commission’s dropped lawsuit reflects the positive regulatory shift toward cryptocurrencies in the United States as reform at the federal level matriculates into state-level regulatory policy. Related: Oregon targets Coinbase after SEC drops its federal lawsuit Five of the 10 states that filed the litigation against Coinbase for its staking services have dropped their lawsuits. On March 13, Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation became the first of the 10 state regulators to drop the staking lawsuit against Coinbase. South Carolina’s securities watchdog was the next to drop the 2023 litigation against Coinbase, dismissing the lawsuit on March 28. Grewal announced that Kentucky’s Department of Financial Institutions followed Vermont and South Carolina’s lead on April 1 by also dismissing its Coinbase lawsuit. Despite the domino effect of states rescinding litigation against the crypto exchange, the Coinbase chief legal officer said that more work needs to be done. “Five holdouts are still electing to waste taxpayer resources on lawsuits, and four of those have banned staking with Coinbase, depriving consumers of the right to earn on their platform of choice,” Grewal wrote in an April 23 X post. Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered ‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series Story injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game Game 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history MLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup Japan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea Game-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike Bank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway
The Bretton Woods Agreement
Bessent eyes stablecoins to protect the US dollar, BTC advocates have another idea
US states drop Coinbase lawsuit but half still holding out
