Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Champions Self-Custody to Reach 1 Billion Users
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has stressed that self-custody wallets are essential for achieving cryptocurrency adoption at scale, particularly in markets with unclear regulations. While alternatives like the Coinbase app work well in developed countries, Armstrong noted that the U.S. represents only 4% of the global population.
“To get to 1b+ people benefiting from the open financial system, self custody is the only way. Lower friction onboarding, available globally, scales like software rather than a separate regulated entity + local team per country,” he stated on social media.
Armstrong also highlighted the role of self-custody in agentic adoption, a future growth avenue where AI agents require direct access to funds to complete tasks. He described self-custody as the “better format” for such use cases, emphasizing that “even in developed countries, self-custody is very important for economic freedom.”
The self-custody debate follows the departure of Jesse Pollak as head of Base, the Coinbase-incubated Layer 2 network. Pollak acknowledged that the initial focus on social features was a “wrong bet” and passed leadership to Jordan Fish, known as Cobie. Under Cobie, Base will pivot to three core pillars: trading, payments, and AI agents.
“We’re going to build base into the blockchain for global finance and do everything we can to be the place that the world’s money settles over the next century,” Pollak stated.